


The Main Universe - Undertale

by Kastrallis



Series: Protectors [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: ALL OF THE SPEARS!!, Fluff, Gen, Implied Alphyne - Freeform, Implied past torture, More tags to be added, Strong Language, Very. Strong language, What the hell why freeform, gah the feels, holy damn - Freeform, motherly fluff stuff, one of them gets me, tea with Asgore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-30
Updated: 2016-09-19
Packaged: 2018-08-11 22:41:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7910380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kastrallis/pseuds/Kastrallis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As a new Guardian, I've already gotten my first mission! By the way, If you haven't read part one of the Protectors series yet, I recommend you do, otherwise you won't have a clue as to what the hell's going on.</p><p>EDIT:: Shit I forgot to give credit where it's due. Undertale does not by any means belong to me. It belongs to Toby Fox.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Mad Flower and Goat Lady

     I woke up in a bed of golden flowers, just like Ink had said. They were pretty damn comfy, actually – so much so I almost wanted to stay and sleep there. But the thought of what I had come to do filled me with a sense of determination.

     I got up and walked forward through the gates as I had been told, and on the other side stood a single yellow flower, but this one had a face. It saw me and smiled a little _too_ widely.

     “Howdy! I’m Flowey! Flowey the Flower!” he said a little _too_ cordially. I didn’t need Ink’s warning to not trust him; everything about this buttercup screamed _fake._

     “You must be new here, huh? Gosh, you must be so _confused!_ Here, I’ll help!”

     I felt my SOUL being pulled out and instantly got ticked. “Oi! I don’t appreciate people just randomly pullin’ my damn SOUL out, if you don’t fuckin’ _mind!”_ I put my fists on my hips angrily.

     His face twitched, and I saw for a split second something much more sinister behind that mask of his. Demonic, almost. All too soon, it was replaced by another façade. “Golly, I’m sorry! I guess you already know what a SOUL is! But do you know what EXP is?”

     “Not a clue,” I said, trying to keep the venom from my voice.

     “Well, then! EXP is what makes you powerful! You can get it by collecting LOVE! You want some LOVE, don’tcha?” he summoned a circle of white seeds around my SOUL, and I felt a sense of danger coming from them. “Well, around here, we spread LOVE with little white…friendliness pellets! Here goes, try to catch as many as you can!”

       These ‘friendliness pellets’ started closing in on my SOUL, and my heart rate picked up, panic set in. There was no opening in the circle that I could jump through. When they inevitably hit, the pain was more than physical; it was complete and total _pain._ Through blurred vision, I saw this thing’s mask slip off, and he spoke in a deeper voice than before.

     **“You IDIOT!”** he started laughing manically and summoned more hell pellets, circling them around my SOUL.

     I didn’t have the energy to fight back, but I put as much hatred as I could into my eyes as I glared daggers at the object that had just made it onto my hit list.

     Suddenly a flame appeared and slammed Flowey away, and he made a sound that I would’ve laughed at if it weren’t for the circumstances.

     A kind-looking goat woman stepped into my view, smiling gently. She wore a purple robe with a strange symbol on the front. “My child, I am very sorry about that horrible flower. My name is Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins. Come, I’ll take you to my home to get you healed.” She held out a paw, and I took it in spite of my trust issues.

     Toriel half-led, half-carried me back to her home, where she sat me down at a worn table in front of a cup of steaming…something.

     “It’s tea, my child. Drink up! It’ll help you feel better, believe me,” she got a cup for herself and sat across the table from me.

     The tea was unnaturally dark, and I took a tentative sip. I instantly recoiled at the taste – bitter, totally bitter.

     Toriel started giggling, covering her mouth with a paw. “Forgive me, my child, I’m afraid that can’t be helped; you’ll just have to drink it all in one go.”

     I looked up at her, my face still twisted in the bitter taste; the look on my face made her giggle all the more. I sighed and lifted the small cup with my pinkie out jokingly. "Cheers,“ I grumbled and went bottoms-up with it, nearly choking at the intense flavor. I swallowed and went into a coughing fit.

     Toriel gripped her sides in laughter, wiping tears from her eyes. “Hahahaha! I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be laughing, but it’s just so _funny!”_ she put her head on the table and banged it with her fist, making me join her in spite of the bitter taste in my mouth.

     It was a few minutes before we started breathing again, and I pushed my empty cup away slightly, making us start up all over again.

     “I…I will get you another cup of tea, my child,” she stood up, and now I realized how _tall_ she was. A gentle giant, I suppose. I looked at her warily, making her continue, “A better flavor, I promise!” she got a box of tea from one of the cabinets and made a cup of tea with it.

     I got a glimpse of the tea packet and brightened at what it said; Blood Orange Oolong, my favorite.

     “Do you like cream or sugar?” Toriel asked, opening the fridge for the cream.

     “No, thank you,” I declined as she put the tea in front of me and put some cream into her own tea. I wrapped my hands around the warm cup and focused on my hands, sucking all of the heat out of it. The warmth spread up my arms and to my chest where my SOUL was.

     “My child,” Toriel stated, “What happened to your tea?”

     I looked down and saw that the steam had stopped rising from it, and condensation had started collecting on the sides. “Oh, uh…” I faltered, trying to come up with something. Though I didn’t really feel comfortable lying to this woman. “It’s a uh, ability I have,” it wasn’t a lie.

     “Hm,” she hummed as she took a sip, “I can do something similar, though in reverse.”

     I breathed a sigh of relief. _She took that well._ “Oh! I didn’t even introduce myself,” I realized, making her look up at me. “My name’s Minx,” I stretched my arm across the table, offering a handshake.

     She enveloped my hand in hers, gently moving it up and down. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Minx.”

     I took back my hand and took a sip of my tea, sighing in contentment. “Y’know, I hardly know you, but you already feel like a mother to me. Is it okay if I call you ‘Mom’?”

   Her head snapped up, and for a second I was afraid I had said something wrong; that is until a smile lit up her face. “Of course, my child, of course! Though I hope I’m not taking the place of your own mother…”

     “I don’t have one,” I said solemnly, my voice cracking.

     “Oh my child!” she exclaimed, getting up and striding over to me, “I am so very sorry!” she hugged me to her chest, and I could feel her heartbeat.

     I put my arms around her as far as they’d go. “It’s okay, Mom,” I said. I couldn’t say anything else for fear of opening the floodgates.

     We stayed like that for a while, both of us on the verge of tears. She pulled away and looked at my face and looked at me with a sense of pride and love, a look only a mother could have. “Oh! You must be starved! You do not dislike cinnamon and butterscotch, do you not?” she opened the fridge again to pull out a pie.

     “Of course not!” I sat up straighter as she set a slice of pie down in front of me. I picked up the fork and took a bite. I closed my eyes and hummed. Remembering my manners, I swallowed before speaking. “Mom, this is _delicious!_ Would you be willing to give out a recipe?”

     “Haha! I’m afraid it’s just a family recipe, but I could write it down for you if you’d like,” she took a bite of her own.

     “Could you!? That’d be great!” I said, taking another bite.

     We sat there for a while, exchanging a few words here and there, but mostly just enjoying each other’s company – and the pie.

     After we were done, Toriel stood up. “I will take care of the dishes, my child, you may explore the ruins. Don’t let chores **_ruin_** your experience!” she did a double-pistol-wink thing at me.

     I blinked at the sudden change in tone, but after a while, I copied her action and stood up, again being reminded as to just how big she was. “Alrighty then, **_alpaca_** my bags for the trip! I’ll get **_goat-_** ing!”

     She started giggling again, a sound I had decided was delightful. “Okay then, get **_goat-_** ing, my child,” she waved a paw toward the door, and I made my way out between laughs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I fucking love Toriel! She reminds me so much of my own mother! I seriously do want a recipe to that pie, tho. How am I doing so far?? Tell me tell me tell me...........*continues rambling like the tired psycho person I am* whelp, I gotta sleep now. So...fucking....tired...


	2. Out of the Ruins and Into the Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning, there are some feels in this chapter. Anyway, Minx gets the actual fuck scared out of her by a branch snapping. Enjoy!

     The Ruins were…nice, to say the least. I spent hours trying to solve all of the puzzles (fucking love puzzles), until I found a nice spot to rest and stayed there for a while, drinking in the peaceful atmosphere of the place.

     After a while, a frog thing came hopping past me, not even seeming to notice me. I got up and tried walking toward it, and it pulled my SOUL out. Wasn’t expecting _that_.

     It threw a few easy-to-dodge attacks at me, and I felt an aura of confusion around it. Poor thing didn’t know what it was doing. I wasn’t above killing if necessary, but I couldn’t bring myself to taking the life of something that still had a life to live. I walked over and lifted it off of the ground, making it make a confused face at me.

     I hugged it to my chest and stroked the back of its head to calm it – it seemed to be working. After a few seconds, I put it back down, and it sat there to stare up at me in a mix of confusion and curiosity. I smiled at it and started walking away, but I kept hearing it jumping after me and croaking. A glance over my shoulder confirmed my suspicions of it following me.

     I rolled my eyes and laughed, resigning to my fate of being followed by my new friend. And he did – all around the rest of the Ruins, and he seemed to be calling his friends (I had decided it was a he), because I looked back and there were now like, five following me around. Frogs always _have_ liked me.

<\-------≪≫------->

     “Oh! My child!” Toriel exclaimed when she saw all of the new froggy friends I had accumulated over my expedition of the Ruins.

     I shrugged. “I dunno, I guess when faced with the possibility of a friend, they just **_jumped_** at the opportunity!”

     “Hahaha!” she giggled, holding her stomach. “I think you would get along with a friend of mine,” a few stray giggles escaped her mouth.

     I started as her words sounded familiar, but I shrugged it off as coincidence. “What friend is that?” I asked, sitting in front of her on the floor (she was on a big armchair reading a book about snails).

     “Well, I don’t exactly know his name yet, but we meet every day on opposite sides of the door to tell puns,” she sighed happily.

     “What door?” I asked.

     She seemed to realize her mistake and stumbled over her words. “U-uh…what do you mean, my child? I d-did not say anything about a door…” she was looking everywhere else in the room except me.

     I tilted my head suspiciously, searching her eyes for an answer. “Mom,” my voice dropped an octave, “what door?”

     She finally made eye contact and sighed. “I suppose there’s no hiding it from you, my child. You seem to have much Determination in your SOUL.” She set her snail book aside and stood to her feet, and something flashed in her eyes that didn’t go unnoticed by me. Sadness, anger, guilt, heartbreak, and a multitude of other emotions all squeezed into a split second.

     She led me out of the room and toward a staircase I hadn’t noticed before. To be fair, I hadn’t really gotten a chance to legit explore the house itself.

     Toriel didn’t even look over her shoulder to make sure I was following before descending the stairs and going down the long-ass hallway. When we had finally made it, she stopped at a massive door that had the same symbol on it as her robe.

     “What’s beyond this?” I asked, putting my hand on the door. It was incredibly smooth; it didn’t feel like any other surface I had felt before. Not metal, not wood, what the hell was this door made of?

     “The rest of the Underground,” Toriel stated sadly. “Do…do you wish to leave me, my child?”

     I turned to see the heartbreak in her eyes. “Of course not, Mom, but I…” I really didn’t like what I had to say next, yet I swallowed the lump in my throat and steeled myself. “I have to.”

     Her eyes hardened, and something about the look on her motherly face made my own heart break. “Very well.” She said, bowing her head. “Then show me…” she put out a paw, summoning a flame in it. “Show me that you’re strong enough to survive!”

     My SOUL floated out before me, and my breath caught in my throat, my ears flattening against my head. “Mom, no,” I whispered.

     Her eyes rested on my SOUL for a split second before throwing fire at it.

   “No,” I whispered as I half-heartedly moved out of the way, only to see more flames flying toward me. “N-no.” more flames. “No!” more. “NO!” again. I took a risk and ran toward her, barreling into her and wrapping my arms around her. “I-I’m s-sorry, Mom! I’m sorry!”

     The flames stopped, and she wrapped her arms around my small frame, tears falling onto the top of my head. “So am I, my child. You are more than capable of fending for yourself. Good luck, Minx.” She pulled away and rested a paw on my face, wiping the tears from my eyes.

     I nodded and closed my eyes, enjoying the warm feeling on my scarred cheek. All too soon, it was gone, and Toriel was walking down the hall back toward the stairs.

     I stood there for a few more seconds, looking back at where she had vanished around the corner. Part of me wanted to run down the hall and tell her I’d stay, but the other part told me that staying with her wasn’t what I came here to do. The door silently called me to open it, and I turned and pushed on its surface. It swung open easily, to my surprise; I was expecting it to be heavy with how big it was.

     It was snowing on the other side, and I stepped into the cold only to have the door swing shut behind me. Guess there’s no going back, now. The only way to go was forward.

     Fuck me for being so damn sensitive to temperature change. It wasn’t long before I was shivering, hugging my arms to my chest to try and capture any heat I could. After a while, I came to a fallen branch in the middle of the trail. It was a pretty good size, looked like it had grown for a while before falling.

     I stepped over it and continued walking. After a few seconds, I got the overwhelming sense of being watched – intensely. I tried to shrug it off as my out-of-control paranoia, but that didn’t keep me from getting scared half to death when the branch snapped. Y’know, the branch that couldn’t have snapped by someone just stepping on it? Yeah, that one.

     I looked over my shoulder and was officially freaked out. Throw me down and fuck me sideways, the fucking branch is snapped in fucking two. “Shiiiiittttt,” I muttered, walking a little faster.

     I finally got to a bridge with a half-assed gate in front of it, with a note that said something along the lines of, ‘If you’re human, please wait here for me to capture you.’ Fuck that. I was just about to walk forward when I was frozen in place (pardon the pun) by a voice behind me.

     “human…” a pause. “don’tcha know how to greet a new pal? turn around…and shake my hand.”

    I considered running, but there seemed to be some sort of force keeping me there. I had no choice but to shake hands with whoever the fuck this was, so I did. I jumped when a farting noise filled the air.

     “heh. the old whoopee-cushion in the hand trick. it’s _always_ funny. the name’s sans. sans the skeleton.”

     He was a skeleton. A lot like Ink, actually. Only, his eyes were lit up with white orbs of light; he wore a simple blue jacket with white undershirt, basketball shirts, and…fluffy. Bunny. Slippers. Holy shit.

     “uh…my eyes are up here?” Sans said when he noticed me staring at his footwear.

     I snorted. “Nice slippers. They’re very **_bunny._** ” I said very matter-of-fact.

     He blinked. After a while, the grin stretched across his face got even wider (if that was even possible), and he reared his head back and laughed. I got a glimpse of cute little pointed canines and a glowing blue tongue. He put his head back down and wiped a tear away from his eye socket. “i see you’ve got a **_funny bone,_** too, kiddo.”

     It was my turn to blink. After a second, I did a double-pistol-wink thing at him. “Aww yeah! My skeleton!”

     “heh. anyway, i’m actually supposed to be patrolling for humans right now, but i don’t care about catching anyone. now my brother, papyrus, he’s a human hunting _fanatic._ actually, i think that’s him over there. go across this bridge. that’s right, go right on through; my bro made the bars too wide to stop anyone.” Sans babbled.

     I shrugged and walked across.

     “quick! behind that conveniently-shaped lamp!” he pointed at a lamp that was magically there for some reason. Why the fuck is a lamp all the way out here?

     Oh, well, I won’t question a good hiding place. I slipped behind it just as a taller skeleton came into the clearing. He spoke in an ear-splittingly loud voice.

     “SANS! ARE YOU SLACKING OFF AGAIN!?” he bellowed.

     “’course not, bro. i’m practically worked… _to the bone._ ” He winked at me as I peeked at him.

     “NYEEEHHHH!!! WHY MUST YOU PLAUGUE MY DAY WITH YOUR IDIOTIC PUNS!?”

     “what? i think they’re pretty… _humorous.”_ He winked again.

     “ENOUGH!! IT’S BEEN THREE DAYS NOW, AND YOU STILL HAVEN’T RECALIBRATED YOUR PUZZLES!!” he paused, giving me some sweet relief for my sensitive ears. “WAIT. SANS, WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?”

     “that lamp over there. it’s pretty cool. wanna see?”

   That little shit.

     “NO, I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR YOUR LITTLE GAMES, SANS! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, MUST GET BACK TO MY STATION! A HUMAN COULD’VE SHOWED UP THERE! IN THE MEANTIME, SANS, WHY DON’T PUT A LITTLE MORE… _BACKBONE_ INTO IT!! NYEH HEH HEH!!!!” he ran out of sight like an excited little child. He poked his head back out to add one more “NYEH!”

     “okay, you can come out now, he’s gone,” Sans called to me.

     I came back out with a sour look plastered on my face. “Sans, you little son of a bitch! Are you crazy!?”

   “nuh, imma skeleton, remember?” he snickered.

     “For fuck’s sake! He could’ve found me, ya lil’ shit!” I whisper-yelled.

     “he wouldn’t have done much of anything even if he had. oh, and you might wanna go easy on the cussing around my bro.” he suddenly grabbed my arm and applied a death grip. “if you fucking _dare_ to taint papyrus, **you’re gonna have a bad time.** ” His eyes went completely dark.

     I nodded stiffly, my eyes wide in fear.

     His eyes went back to normal, and he let go of my arm and shoved his hand in his pocket. “good. thanks, kiddo!”

     “Minx,” I corrected.

     “eh?”

     “My name. It’s Minx,” I said.

     He looked me up and down. “nah, kiddo suits ya better.”

     Good lord.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, am I getting everything right so far? No one's OOC? God, it was hard writing the part where she left Toriel. Especially because I was listening to 'Heartbreak' on loop the whole time. Why do I do such things to myself?


	3. More Puzzles and The Undying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minx gets a date and almost gets killed all in the same day. Yeah, that's kind of normal for her. Kind of.

     I snorted as Papyrus crossed the ‘invisible electricity maze’, leaving footprints to show me exactly where to go. “U-um…Paps?” I said meekly, trying out the nickname Sans had used.

     “NEVER FEAR, DEAR HUMAN! FOR I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, BELIEVE IN YOU TO SOLVE THIS PUZZLE!” he placed the orb shock-thing on my head and crossed back over to where Sans was.

     I gave Sans a ‘really?’ look and started across, following the big cinnamon roll’s footsteps, going up to said cinnamon roll after I was on his side.

     He did a double-take at me, like he wasn’t expecting me to be there. “WOWIE! I DID NOT EXPECT YOU TO SOLVE IT SO QUICKLY! BUT DO NOT FEAR! THE NEXT PUZZLE WILL SURELY BEFUDDLE YOU, FOR MY BROTHER SANS HAS MADE IT HIMSELF! NYEH HEH HEH!” and…he slid backwards out of sight.

     I took the orb off of my head and handed it to Sans. “I like your brother, he’s nice. Eccentric, but nice,” I smiled.

     He grinned and put the orb in his pocket (just how big _were_ those pockets of his?). “yeah, he’s harmless, alright. anyway, you’d better get moving so you can get confused again.”

     “We’ll see,” I smirked and walked forward into the next area. All that sat in my way was a word search puzzle here. Holy damn I love word searches, but I didn’t think I had the time. I put it in my pocket for later and walked up to the two skele-bros.

     “SANS! THAT DIDN’T DO ANYTHING!” Papyrus whine/yelled.

     “huh, knew i shoulda used today’s crossword instead,” Sans said, the smile never leaving his face. I’ve determined that it’s probably permanent.

    “CROSSWORD!? THOSE ARE EASY! JUNIOR JUMBLE IS EASILY THE HARDEST!”

     “what? those easy word scramble things? those are for baby-bones,” Sans said.

     “HUMAN! SETTLE THIS DISPUTE! WHICH IS HARDER!?”

    “Hm,” I hummed, “I’d have to say Junior Jumble, sorry Sans,” I answered truthfully.

    “NYEH!” Papyrus yelled approvingly, “YOU SEE, SANS? THE HUMAN KNOWS ART WHEN SHE SEES IT!”

    Well, at least he knows I’m a girl.

    “HUMAN! I WILL BE WAITING AT THE NEXT PUZZLE!” and he sprinted onward triumphantly.

      I turned to Sans. “Just how many fu….how many puzzles are there?” I narrowly caught myself from swearing, as Papyrus might’ve still been within earshot.

      “the next one should be the last one, no worries. i’ll keep an eye socket out for ya,” he winked.

      God, why is that wink so damn sexy?

    “dunno, guess you got a wink-kink,” he smirked as my face heated up in spite of the cold.

     Fuck, did I say that out loud? I decided to leave before I made an even bigger idiot of myself.

       The next puzzle looked like a damn old-school disco floor, I shit you not. Papyrus explained that it would change colors, and a fuck load of complicated shit about colors. Something about smelling like oranges and lemons. I didn’t understand any of it, but I said I did anyway.

      He flipped the switch, and the colors changed rapidly before settling on a pink walkway with red on either side. Papyrus looked shell-shocked for a moment before doing a weird twirl thing out of sight.

       I snorted and glanced at Sans, scampering past and shielding my face to prevent him from seeing my lingering blush from earlier.

       Papyrus was standing a little ways away, facing away from me.

       “Human.”

       Maybe it was the fact that I still felt Sans’ eyes raking my form, or that Papyrus wasn’t yelling, but whatever it was, it scared me. In the short time I had known the sweet muffin, I had come to care for him, and so it hurt to see him sad.

     “You are…different. You are not like the humans in the legends.” He still faced away from me.

     _No duh,_ I thought, but kept it to myself. I wanted to hear what the sugar bagel had to say.

     “And yet…I must capture you! I will be famous! I will have admirers everywhere!” he now turned sideways, and I caught conflict in his eyes. “But…I…I can’t. But…but…I MUST!”

     I flinched as his loud voice came back with a vengeance.

     He pulled my SOUL out.

<\--------≪≫-------->

     Okay, don’t ask me how the fuck it happened, but I am now on a date with Papyrus.

     “HUMAN! I…I AM AFRAID I DO NOT RETURN YOUR FEELINGS. BUT I WILL CONTINUE BEING YOUR FRIEND!”

       I blinked, still trying to process how the hell I even got to this point. “U-um,” I finally mustered, “I…I will try to live with my heartbreak!” I struck a dramatic pose, lying on his race car bed with a hand over my forehead and my leg up.

       “NYEH HEH! I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT!” he got quiet for a few seconds before putting a piece of paper on my chest. “HERE’S MY NUMBER, FEEL FREE TO CALL IT ANYTIME! PLATONICALLY, OF COURSE!” he bellowed before marching out the still-open door.

       I smiled and put the paper in my pocket, right next the paper with Ink and Dream’s numbers on it.

       I left the house and went down the path that I saw earlier. It was a long walk, so I had time to reflect. Snowdin was a nice town, to say the least. There was an element of sadness that didn’t slip by unnoticed, but everyone there seemed to make a conscious effort to be happy regardless. Sometimes I wish that people on the surface would do that too. Decide to be happy, I mean. Too often they get so caught up in their own problems that they miss what’s really important.

     I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t notice that the scenery had changed until something caught my eye. A blue flower? It reminded me of Flowey, and I grimaced at the memory of his sadistic laugh. As I walked past, I thought I heard the flower say something and put my ear down to hear it better.

     “Minx?”

     I started as it said my name. “Y-yes?” I whispered tentatively and listened.

     “Oh, thank goodness! Thought I lost ya! This is Ink. If you hear this, then say ‘ok’.”

     “Ok?” I said it like a question.

     “Close enough. Listen, you need to be careful. You’re in Waterfall, home of Undyne, the captain of the royal guard. If she finds you, just run like hell, hide, and pray she _doesn’t find you._ Do _not_ fight her under any circumstances. Do you understand?”

     “Yes, but…dafuq does she look like?” damn, was it good to hear Ink’s voice again, even if it _was_ through a flower.

     “…You’ll know her when you see her. Now whisper something else into the flower so this conversation will be erased.”

     “Um…” I thought for a moment as the flower repeated the word. “Papyrus is cool.”

     _“Papyrus is cool. Papyrus is cool.”_ the flower repeated over and over again. I found myself hoping that Papyrus would hear that message.

     I stood up and walked forward with Ink’s warning in mind. Going into some tall weeds, I suddenly heard Papyrus’ voice from above me on a cliff.

     “UNDYNE, I AM HERE TO REPORT ON THE HUMAN,” he announced.

     How could an innocent roll like Papyrus know someone that sounded as ruthless as Undyne?

     “YES, I FOUGHT THEM VALIANTLY! CAPTURE THEM? ER…NO, I DID NOT. WHAT!? YOU’LL TAKE HER SOUL YOURSELF? BUT…YOU DON’T HAVE TO! THERE’S GOT TO BE ANOTHER WAY! YOU DON’T NEED…” he paused. “I…I understand.” There’s that eerily quiet voice again.

     I needed to move as I heard his footsteps move away. Just my luck, as soon as I took a step, my foot just so happened to land right on a piece of dry grass, making a seemingly ear-splitting sound in the echoing quiet.

     A figure looked down over the edge of the cliff, summoning a dangerous-looking blue spear in its hand. Its soulless eyes searched the area for a few seconds before it stood back and disappeared into the shadow.

     Holy fuck that was close.

     When I didn’t feel its presence anymore, I crept forward and out of the tall grass. A yellow dinosaur-looking kid ran out of the grass after I did. I recognized him as a monster kid that I met in Snowdin. Never did catch his name.

     “Dude! That! Was! _Awesome!_ Did you see the way she was looking at you!? Man, I’m sooo jealous of you right now! Lucky! Come on! Let’s go watch her beat up some bad guys!” he ran off, tripping and landing on his face before getting back up and running forward like nothing happened.

     Weird lil’ kid, but I like him. I’ve always liked kids. I guess now the only direction to go was forward.

<\-------≪≫------->

     Shit. That was the only word running through my mind as I tried to dodge the waves of spears that Undyne threw at me.

     “NGAAAAAHHHHH!! Stop running and _fight_ me, ya filthy human!” she yelled in frustration.

     “Fuck no!” I yelled back and kept running. Just how many fucking spears did this psycho woman have!? I had already gotten hit by one, and I was holding my side where blood poured out. I’d have to sew that up later. If I ever get out of this alive.

     Finally I crossed a bridge and into a very hot place. Whoa, _that_ was a change in scenery. My lungs gave up on me right in front of a water cooler, and I looked back to see if Undyne was still giving chase, sucking air into my lungs in huge gulps. Holy damn I sounded like a fucking vacuum.

     She didn’t look so good. “Armor…too…hot…OOF!” she plopped onto the ground, heaving breaths similar to how I was. Shit, was her skin sizzling!? If she didn’t get out of this area soon, she wasn’t going to make it.

     I grabbed the entire water cooler and poured it over her, and it seemed to help a bit, but not enough. “I’m gonna have to drag you back a few feet, don’t kill me, kay?” I said, leaning over her sweating form.

     She begrudgingly nodded, and I hooked my arms under hers to get ready to drag her back. Damn did it burn, but I’ve been through worse. I only had to drag her a little ways before I could feel the sudden change in atmosphere to a more suitable environment for a fish lady.

     “Still…too…hot…” she panted.

     “Where are the latches?” I asked. “For the armor, I mean.”

     She seemed to stop breathing for a second before glaring up at me with venom in her one good eye. “I’m not taking off my damn armor in the presence of my fucking enemy,” she said defiantly.

     “We gotta take this stuff off you if you wanna live; you’re baking in a damn body oven here,” I argued, “Now where the hell are the latches?”

     “They’re…on the back. I’ll get ‘em myself!” she spat, and I held my hands up defensively. She unhooked the armor from herself and slipped it off, tossing it into a pile with dull metal _clangs._

     She was surprisingly thin for someone with all that armor, but that’s not to say she wasn’t totally _ripped!_ Like, holy damn, forget a fucking six-pack, this chick had a damn twelve-pack! Her red hair, even in a ponytail, swept the ground behind her as she sat there trying to regain her composure. Her teeth were sharpened and yellow, which matched her eye; hardened and amber. Her other eye was hidden by a well-worn eyepatch that reminded me of a cliché pirate.

     “What’re _you_ lookin’ at?” she huffed.

     “Uh, the ceiling. I’m lookin’ at you, duh!” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

     She snorted and smiled before she could stop herself. _“You’re_ the human Paps told me about?”

     “Well, the guy doesn’t seem to understand that I ain’t human, but sure,” I shrugged.

     “Ya ain’t human?” she was taken aback. “Oh, well, uh…sorry for throwing spears at ya, then,” she rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly.

     “Lil’ late for that, but that’s okay. Not the worst pain I’ve ever endured,” I glanced down at my side to see it bleeding profusely, starting to stain the ground I was sitting on a deep crimson. “Shit.”

    “Oh. Oh! OH!” she said, her voice getting progressively louder, “Fuck! We gotta get you fixed up!” she proceeded to pick me up and run down the halls, jostling my wound and making it hurt like bloody hell (hehe puns are fun).

     Her arm didn’t make a very good cushion for my head; it was like lying on a rock. “What about your armor?” I asked.

     “Fuck it. I’ll go back and get it later,” she said as she finally slowed down, kicking a door to a house down and storming inside. She set me on the table and sprinted into another room, her combat boots pounding against the hard floor.

     I could practically feel the blood draining from my body as it pooled on the table below me.

     “Here, eat this,” she shoved something in my mouth, mildly reminding me of Dream and his stew. I chewed it, and it, of course, was really fucking bitter, but I managed to choke it down.

     I didn’t feel anything as Undyne guided a needle and thread through my skin, sealing the wound shut. She wrapped a bandage around my midsection, and it was now that I realized that my shirt was gone.

     “Oi! Where’s my fucking shirt!?” I tried to yell, but all that came out was a groan formed into words.

     “In the trash, dingus,” she informed me, never taking her eye off her work, “Why, did you _want_ a bloody, ripped-up shirt?” she glanced at me and smirked.

     “Ugh, that was my favorite shirt,” I whined as she tied the bandage off and put the medical supplies away.

     “Well, I dunno what to tell ya other than suck it up,” she said, sitting on the table next to me and swinging her long legs.

     I caught a glance of her shirt and groaned. “I’m sorry I stained your shirt,” I said.

     She glanced down at it. “Meh, hated this shirt anyway,” and she proceeded to rip it off and toss it into the garbage. “Actually, you and I might be the same shirt size, lemme go get a couple,” she hopped off the table and went to get the articles of clothing.

     How the hell did this girl go from chucking spears at me to letting me have one of her shirts after bandaging an injury that she inflicted? I didn’t have an answer, but one thing was for sure:

     I'm not going to know what the fuck to expect after this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for this chapter being a couple days late, but I started college, so that's been a little crazy. Anyway, I skipped a few things just for the sake of not dragging it on and just describing things that you guys already know about. How am I doing? Let me know!  
>  Thanks for reading! Byeeeee~


	4. Alphys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we drink tea with a fish woman that we think may be in love with a certain drake named Alphys...

     “AH!” I yelled as one of Undyne’s spears slammed into the table, cracking it in two.

     “Stay right there, Minx! You’re the guest here!” she yelled, making me flinch at the loud voice and sit back down.

     I watched her make some tea out of some golden flowers that again reminded me of Flowey. I grinned at the thought of him being put in hot water and made into tea. Yeah, my mind’s a little fucked up. I snapped back to reality when Undyne handed me a cup and sat on the other side of the now broken table.

     “Hope ya like it; it’s the only kind of tea I have right now,” she said, taking a sip.

     I followed her lead and hummed in approval. “This is good – just my **_cup of tea,_** ” I snorted, watching her reaction.

     She slowly set her tea down on her lap and looked at me with an unamused look on her face. “Have you met Sans yet?”

     “Yeah, he’s pretty **_cool,_** ” now that I knew puns annoyed her, I wasn’t about to stop.

     She blinked slowly. “Stop,” she said in a monotone voice.

     I giggled and took a sip of my tea.

     Suddenly there was a knock at the door, and we both looked at each other with concern written on our faces.

     She jumped up and hoisted me over her shoulder, only to stuff me under her piano – though she was surprisingly careful with my injured side.

     She threw open the door, and I heard Papyrus’ booming voice, making me flatten my ears against my head.

     “HELLO, UNDYNE! I’M READY FOR MY ONE-ON-ONE TRAINING!” I could almost imagine him pumping his fist in the air heroically.

     “Uh…alright then! Come on in!” she stepped aside for the tall skele. After closing the door, she turned to her piano. “Minx, you can come out now.”

     I crawled out from underneath the instrument, straightening and dusting off the black tank top Undyne gave to me. It actually fit pretty well.

     “H-HUMAN!?” Papyrus exclaimed.

     “Shh, Paps! Alphys’ camera might still be able to hear you!” Undyne hissed, slapping a hand over his mouth. Or should I say ‘teeth’? “Listen to me. She’s not human, but Alphys doesn’t know that yet. I’ll take her to Hotland and tell her myself; she’s not likely to attack while I’m around.”

     “Uh, when did I agree to this?” I said, putting my fists on my hips.

     Undyne turned to me, taking her hand off of Papyrus’ face. “Just now, punk. Paps, I’m sorry. Looks like we’ll hafta cancel today’s lesson.”

     “NYEH HEH! OF COURSE, UNDYNE! GO AHEAD AND TAKE THE HUMAN TO ALPHYS, I’M SURE SHE’LL UNDERSTAND WITH YOU THERE!” he boomed, Undyne’s earlier warning seeming to be forgotten.

     “Okay, just uh…practice your blue attack when you get back to Snowdin, kay?” Undyne instructed like how she would a child.

     “NYEH! THAT I WILL! SEE YOU LATER!” instead of using the door like a normal person, he crashed right through the closed window. Then again, what about Papyrus was normal?

     “Whelp, there goes another window,” Undyne sighed before turning to me. “Anyway, let’s get moving to Hotland to meet Alphys.”

     “Is that where you um…” I cleared my throat as we stepped out the door, “overheated?”

     “Yeah, but I’ll be fine without a…what did you call it? A ‘body oven’?” she smirked at me.

     I giggled up at her and nodded. That reminds me. Why is everyone around here so _big!?_ Even Sans, who was the smallest one I had seen so far, was at least twice my size. Well, there was the monster kid, too, but still. “Hey, Undyne?” I asked.

     She grunted in acknowledgement.

     “Can you do me a favor?” I continued when she looked at me skeptically. “If you see a little monster kid runnin’ around, can you say hi to him? He absolutely _worships_ you,” I said.

     The corners of her lips tugged upward in a smile. “Sure thing, punk. Come to think of it, I’ve seen that lil’ scamp hangin’ around my stations quite a bit with a dorky smile on his face. Won’t be hard to say hey.”

     I grinned. “Thanks.” We fell into silence as we walked the rest of the way to Hotland. I knew it when we were there by the sudden change in atmosphere. “Ugh,” I groaned.

     “What’s the matter, punk? Not too hot, are ya?” she smirked.

     “Not at all,” I said sarcastically. “By the way, do you and Alphys know each other already?”

     “Everybody knows everybody around here,” she said, “That happens when you all live in a damn cave that ya can’t get out of.” The sadness in her voice didn’t go unnoticed by me.

     “Damn I wish I were human,” I blurted out, “at least then you’d be able to get my SOUL to break the barrier.”

     “Who told ya about the barrier?” Undyne glanced at me.

     “Papyrus accidentally told me,” I lied. Somehow I didn’t think she’d believe me if I told her about Ink.

     She hummed in approval. “Well, we make do with what we have here. Though I’m with ya on hopin’ we get free soon.”

     I didn’t have time to say anything else because we had come to a great big white building. Undyne marched up to the door and banged on it with her fist so hard I was sure it would leave a dent, but it didn’t.

     Something about the building unsettled me. It looked an awful lot like a lab, and all of my experiences with labs didn’t go over well. Undyne noticed my discomfort and nudged my arm. “Don’t worry, she’s harmless.”

     “It’s not her I’m worried about,” I replied, glancing around nervously.

     She wasn’t able to say anything else before the door slid open, revealing a yellow drake girl wearing a lab coat over a polka-dot shirt and…fluffy pink anime pajama pants. I had to hold in a snort. She was only about 4 feet tall, with glasses.

     “O-oh! H-hello, Undyne,” she said meekly. She seemed to have a stuttering problem.

     “Hey, Alph!” Undyne chirped, sounding a lot happier now. Did I sense some chemistry going on here? “I wanted to introduce you to my friend, Minx.”

     Alphys froze up at the name and looked at me with a mixture of fear and confusion. “M-M-Minx?” she stuttered, still staring up at me.

     “Hello, Alphys,” I said gently, trying not to scare the poor thing any more than I probably already had. I held out a hand to her, and she flinched away.

     “Don’t worry Al, she ain’t a human,” Undyne reassured the smol girl.

     “Sh-she’s not?” she asked, her gaze flickering from Undyne to me and back again. She finally met my hand with her own, and I gently shook it up and down.

     “O-oh! Uh…c-come in! Come in!” she said, stepping aside. “Uh, e-excuse the mess, I’ve m-meant to clean u-up around here,” she stammered, kicking away an empty instant ramen container.

     “Meh, I don’t mind,” I shrugged, taking care to step over one of the many comic books scattered across the floor.

     “Me either,” Undyne agreed, plopping down on the couch.

     “Well, u-um…what did, um…y-you guys come here f-for?” Alphys asked, sitting down and adjusting her glasses.

     “Is there any way we can break the barrier without having to extract my SOUL?” I asked, making Undyne shoot a glare at me. “What? I wanna help you guys any way I can,” I said to her.

     Alphys seemed taken aback by my sudden question. “W-well, we’ve been studying that for quite a while now, but we’ve never really had a willing volunteer for SOUL studying, so it’s been difficult,” she said. Her stutter melted away as soon as she started talking science. That must’ve been what she was most comfortable with talking about.

     I stood up violently. “I volunteer as tribute!” I said, pounding a fist over my chest.

     Alphys gasped in delight. “I love that book!” she squee’d.

     “Nice reference, punk,” Undyne snorted.

     “S-so you’re willing to?” Alphys asked me, prompting me to nod. “It’ll b-be painful. A-Are you sure about this?”

     “I’m acquainted with pain; I know what it feels like. Just…don’t take offense if I cuss up a storm,” I said, “I tend to do that a lot.”

     Undyne and Alphys both looked at each other uncertainly. “Okay, but only if you promise me something,” Undyne stood up, towering over me by a foot. She leaned down to be eye level with me. “If it gets to be too much, don’t try to tough it out. Just say the word, and she’ll stop.”

     “Okay,” I nodded solemnly and glanced at Alphys, who smiled encouragingly.

     Undyne searched my eyes, though for what I’ll never know. “Alright, Al. Lead the way.”

     Alphys suddenly paled. “U-uh, a-are you s-sure? Um…I m-mean, w-we could al-always do it an-a-another t-t-time,” she started sweating bullets, and her stutter got worse.

     “Why? What’s wrong with doing it right now?” Undyne asked.

     “N-nothing! It’s just that…i-it’s a _real_ mess down there, a-and I’d b-be so em-embarrassed,” she sputtered out.

     “I don’t care,” Undyne insisted.

     “Undyne,” I said quietly, making both of them look at me, “I think she just doesn’t want you there,” I tried putting as gently as possible.

     She straightened and glanced between the two of us. “Okay then, Alph, if it makes you more comfortable, I’ll stay up here.” She plopped back down on the sofa to prove her point.

     I looked at Alphys and nodded, prompting her to nod back and lead me down one of the halls to an elevator(?)

     “The lab has more than one floor?” I asked. I couldn’t stop the overwhelming feeling of dread washing over me.

     Alphys nodded, her eyes locked on the elevator door, almost like she was trying to open them by sheer force of will. They did finally open, and we both stepped inside. Alphys pressed a complicated number onto the pad, and we started moving.

The ride was silent and awkward, and judging by the drop of stomach, we were headed down. I told myself that I shouldn’t be afraid; that Alphys wouldn’t do anything to hurt me, but the memories of my past still insisted on haunting my thoughts.

     The elevator jolted to a stop, and the doors opened to reveal something that stirred my memories even more. A hallway stretched forth with doors on either side. It was dimly lit, and I could faintly hear the sounds of moaning coming from said doors. No, not _that_ kind of moaning. The kind of moan that comes from someone – or some _thing_ – in pain.

     “Welcome to my true lab,” Alphys stated, her eyes downcast and refusing to look at mine.

     “Is this what you didn’t want Undyne to see?” I asked as we stepped out into the hall.

     She nodded and seemed to hurry ahead toward the room at the end.

     Suddenly a big white…something slithered out of one of the rooms and into our path, panting heavily and making some kind if green goop ooze out of the gaping hole in its face, the only distinguishing feature on it.

     I froze in my tracks. What. The. Actual. Fuck!? I gripped Alphys’ shoulder in fear, my breath catching in my throat.

     “I-It’s okay, th-that’s just an Amalgamate, they’re a-actually pretty friendly. That one’s Endogeny,” she reassured, though it didn’t do much when the Amalgamate was moving toward me. “It’ll w-want to sm-smell you, don’t panic; he won’t h-hurt you.”

     I’m usually good at keeping my composure, but now it was getting kind of hard with this thing breathing in my face.

     It made a sound like panting, and I finally spoke up. “H-hi?”

     It jumped back and turned in a circle, getting down on its front paws(?)

     “H-here, you can throw this for him,” Alphys handed me a small red ball.

     I grinned and chucked it down the hall as hard as I could, and Endogeny turned and scampered after it. I smiled in spite of myself.

     We walked for a little further, throwing the ball for the playful Amalgamate every now and then. We finally got to the room that had been our destination.

     Alphys opened the door and let me inside. It sparked a whole new avenue of dark memories in my mind – it looked a lot like the labs that had been haunting my dreams for the past two years. “A-are you sure a-about this? You don’t have to, y’know,” the drake touched my shoulder.

     I looked down at her, and back down the hall at Endogeny, who was pawing the ball across the floor. The thought of there being a chance at getting them all out of this hell hole filled me with a sense of Bravery. “Yes, yes I do,” I turned back to her.

     “Okay, th-then just step in here, um…” she led me to a person-sized pod, and I stepped inside. “U-um…I’ll have to strap you in just as a s-safety precaution…is that o-okay?”

     I nodded, Bravery still persisting.

     After strapping my wrists and ankles to the contraption, she waddled over to the control pad. “Th-this’ll hurt qu-quite a bit, um…a-are you ready? Just s-say the word, and I’ll stop.”

     Perseverance and Bravery intermingled, and I nodded stiffly.

     Alphys turned on the machine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah...I love Endogeny, he's my favorite Amalgamate. Whelp, how'd I do?


	5. A Sleepover with the Great, and Hatred of Something Common

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get a glimpse of Minx's past...maybe.

     _“GAAAHHHHH FUUUUUUCCCCKKKKKK!!!!”_ I screeched. Holy damn she wasn’t kidding when she said it would hurt. My SOUL pulsed in front of me with purple taking up the most space. I willed it to stay still, even as the needle poked through the surface and made the pain even worse. My breath gave out, and my scream gave way to labored breathing and some more yelled curses.

     Through my spotty vision, I could see Alphys with an uncharacteristically stoic expression, watching my SOUL’s reaction carefully.

     Endogeny came loping into the room, holding the ball in his mouth(?) He took one look at me and froze, dropping the ball and just…standing there. The ball rolled to my feet, and I looked at him through pain-hazed eyes.

     The needle pulled back out of my SOUL painfully slow, and it finally came free with an audible _pop._

     _“Hrk!”_ I let out a pained grunt as Alphys lifted the syringe to eye level to study it. She waddled over to a table and put the substance it contained into a centrifuge before coming back over to me and releasing the bonds the held me there. My SOUL floated back to me as she did so.

     I stepped off the platform and rubbed my wrists, coughing and wheezing a few times. Endogeny came over to me and nudged me with his head, making me smile a little. I picked up his ball and threw it for him, but he stayed put. If he had a face, I think he’d be looking at me like, ‘No I’m not gonna go get it; you need me more.’

     I gave him a pat on the head and shakily walked over to Alphys, holding onto him for support. “Anything useful?” I asked breathlessly.

     “Not so far, but your SOUL…it’s…unique,” she said, her stutter gone.

     “Unique?” I parroted, “In what way?”

     “Y-you don’t know?” she took her eyes from the microscope to look up at me. “Usually SOULs are just one solid color, but yours…” she paused to shake her head incredulously, “yours is a multitude of different colors, different personality traits that make up who you are.” She explained.

     “What do all of the colors mean?” I asked, hooking my arm around the Amalgamate to keep myself from falling.

     “Well, red is Determination, orange is Bravery, yellow is Justice, green is Kindness, light blue is Patience, dark blue is Integrity, and purple is Perseverance. You have several of these colors, though one or more of them may show at times more than others.”

     Endogeny suddenly nudged his head under my stomach, flipping me onto his back.

     “Wow, he r-really likes y-you, huh?” Alphys smiled, showing her two front teeth.

     “Well, I _am_ part wolf,” I said. “Wait. Going back to the SOUL thing,” I gave a shit-eating grin. “So…whatever mood I’m in… ** _determines_** what color it turns?” I bounced my eyebrows a couple times when she looked at me.

     “Have uh…have you m-met Sans y-yet?” she asked.

     “Y’know, Undyne asked the same thing,” I remarked, “but yeah, I have. He’s **_bad to the bone._** ”

     “Um…”

     “Not to mention he’s a pretty **_chill_** dude,” I rolled over so I was on my back. “And he had a skele- ** _ton_** of cool jokes, too. That was one of ‘em.”

     I decided to stop when Endogeny vibrated in a low growl.

     Alphys snorted and shook her head. “A-alright, get out of here, y-you pun-making wolf,” she chuckled.

     “Aww,” I whined along with the Amalgamate underneath me. I rolled off of him and to the floor. “C’mon, you can escort me there,” I patted my leg, and he trotted up to me, panting heavily. “See ya, Alphys! Let me know if you find anything,” I waved.

     She waved back, not taking her eyes off her work.

     I looked at Endogeny and tossed my head in a signal to get going.

     When we got to the elevator, I went to press the call button when he nudged my hand away from it. “Hey, what’s the big idea?” I laughed, and he whined sadly. I sighed and ruffled the fur atop his head. The hole in his face morphed into a downward-facing crescent, and he whined again. I buried my face in his chest fluff for comfort. “It’s okay buddy, I’ll visit. How could I not?” I pulled away and stroked the fuzz behind his ears.

     He whined and nuzzled his face on mine as a goodbye before plopping down on the floor to let me leave. I smiled sadly before pressing the call button and stepping inside the open elevator.

     The ride back up was just as quiet as the ride down, but less awkward since I was the only one in there. When it stopped, I went by memory to get back to the entrance room where Undyne was. Before I even got there, I heard some kind of noise coming from there. Moaning, it sounded like. Yes, _that_ kind of moaning. I rounded the corner and stopped.

     Undyne was leaning expectantly on the edge of her seat, her eye glued to the computer screen that sat in front of her. I couldn’t see what was on it, but from the type of sounds that were coming from it, I didn’t really _want_ to. I cleared my throat, and she panicked, slamming the laptop closed so hard it sounded like a gunshot.

     “Gettin’ a lil’ antsy, huh?” I smirked as she started making distressed fish sounds.

     “Let’s just…go.” She finally said, jumping up and striding toward the door. “What did you guys do?” she asked as we walked back.

     “Alphys extracted something from my SOUL and looked at it under a microscope. That’s about it,” I left out the part about Endogeny. There must’ve been a reason Alphys didn’t want her to know about him.

     “Will ya hafta come back?”

     I sighed. “In a few days, yeah; just to check and see if she found anything of use.”

     Undyne nodded. “Got a place to stay?”

     My phone suddenly rang. I looked at the screen and smiled when I saw a certain cinnamon roll’s name pop up. “Hold on, **_bass._** It’s Papyrus.” Before she could make a remark at my pun, I pressed the green button and held the phone up to my ear. “Hello?”

     “AH! HUMAN! HELLO!” I held the phone away from his yelling. “I WAS JUST WONDERING IF YOU HAD A PLACE TO STAY FOR THE NIGHT!”

     I glanced at Undyne, who crossed her arms and shrugged. She could probably hear every word. “Uh, no, not yet. Why do ya ask?”

     “OH GOODY! SO THEN YOU ARE FREE FOR A SLEEPOVER TONIGHT, YES!?”

     Undyne and I both nodded at each other. “Of course, Paps! I’ll come right over!”

     “GREAT! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL GET EVERYTHING READY BEFORE YOU ARRIVE!” There was a click, and the call ended.

     I pressed the red button and turned to Undyne. “Okay, I guess I have a place to stay.”

     “Ya sure do,” she agreed, slapping an arm around my shoulders as we started walking again. “But if you ever need a place to stay, just crash at my place. I might not be there, but the door’s always unlocked,” she offered.

     “Thanks, Undyne. I’ll be sure to remember that.”

     “You’d better,” she said, “cuz if I find ya sleepin’ outside somewhere, I’ll have to haul your ass there myself.”

     “Not much to haul,” I remarked, “I’m practically… ** _skin and bones._** ”

     She raised an eyebrow. “One more pun, and I might withdraw my offer.”

     I gave a fake shiver and rubbed my arms. “So cold,” I laughed and pushed her playfully.

     She smirked and pushed back. I think she forgot I’m barely half her size, and I tumbled backward right on my ass. “Owwwww!” I groaned, rubbing my tail where I had landed on it.

     “Pfft, wow,” she scoffed, helping me up. “Ya need an escort, or nah?”

     “Meh, I can walk myself.”

     “Okay. See ya round, punk!” she waved as she went down another branch to her house.

     I waved back even though she couldn’t see me and continued on toward Snowdin.

<\-------≪≫------->

     “NO, DON’T OPEN THE…” I heard muffled yelling before the door to Papyrus and Sans’ house opened, revealing a blue jacket and a wide grin. “NO! EVERYTHING IS NOT READY YET!”

     “well, ain’t you lookin’ **_foxy,_** ” Sans remarked, earning an exaggerated groan from Papyrus.

     “Imma wolf, not a fox,” I huffed, “Now can you throw me a **_bone_** and let me in? That’d be n- ** _ice,_** ” I said.

     “NYAH! NOT YOU TOO, HUMAN!” Papyrus yelled.

     “heh. sure, come on in,” he stepped aside.

     I thanked him and stepped inside, doing my best to stamp the snow off my shoes before taking them off. Papyrus was in the middle of making something. He stepped into the living room and I had to hold back a snort. He was wearing a poofy chef’s hat and an apron that said ‘kiss the cook’ on the front.

     “SANS! MY SPAGHETTI WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A SURPRISE!” Papyrus whined.

     “It _was_ a surprise,” I insisted, “Here, I can even help you make it.”

     He squee’d. “HUMAN! YOU DID NOT TELL ME YOU CAN MAKE SPAGHETTI!”

     “Not as good as you, I’m sure,” I giggled when he put his hands up to his face, making spaghetti sauce fly everywhere from the spoon he held.

     “OF COURSE NOT! BUT I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE SURE TO TEACH YOU ALL THE TRICKS! NYEH HEH!” a breeze came out of nowhere and lifted his cape.

     “Haha! Well what are we waitin’ for!? Let’s get started!” I threw my arms out to the sides, almost hitting Sans in the process.

     “NYEH! COME ALONG, THEN! I WILL FIND ANOTHER COOKING SHEILD FOR YOU!” he ran over and went to pick me up.

     I flinched away, wincing and tensing the muscles in my legs like I was about to bolt.

     “H-Human?” Papyrus said softly, his face riddled with concern.

     “I…I’m fine, just…uh,” I glanced at Sans, who was looking at me with his brows furrowed. “I’m just intimidated, is all.”

     “YOU NEED NOT BE INTIMIDATED BY MY GREATNESS, DEAR HUMAN! THOUGH I CAN UNDERSTAND WHY YOU WOULD BE! ANYWAY, LET’S GET COOKING!” he triumphantly led the way into the kitchen.

     Before I could follow him, Sans reached out and gently touched my shoulder. “ya okay, kiddo?” his grin subsided, replaced with a look of genuine concern.

     I jumped from his skeletal hand coming into contact with my bare skin and looked back at him. “Yeah, I’m good.”

     He looked at me suspiciously, searching my eyes for anything that would give away the fact that I was lying.

     “HUMAN!?” Papyrus called.

     Sans reluctantly let go of my shoulder, and I was free to go into the kitchen. I glanced back at the comedian, and he gave a sympathetic smile.

<\-------≪≫------->

     Papyrus _did_ teach me some tricks, but…well, I’m pretty sure he overcooked the noodles. My suspicion was confirmed when I tried to eat it; the noodles were so soft that they kept breaking every time they’d get close to my mouth. I finally resorted to just scooping them up.

     After dinner Papyrus switched on the T.V, and I heard an annoyingly familiar voice come on over the speaker.

     Mettaton.

     The only reason I knew his name was because his quiz show was the only thing on Ink’s T.V. The only. Thing.

     I noticed Sans crinkle his nose(?) Do skeletons even _have_ noses? Anyway, he made a disgusted face. “whelp. i’ll be in my room.”

     “Oh no ya don’t,” I grabbed the hood on his jacket. “You’re helpin’ me with these dishes, bone-boy.”

     He let out an exaggerated groan and dragged his ass over to the table to help me gather the empty plates.

     I stopped, looking up at the sink that towered above me. Fuck me for being so damn short.

   Sans stepped up next to me, and there was an awkward silence as there was a loud ‘ _Oh, yesss_ ’ from the living room.

     “yeah, paps had the sink resized to accommodate his height,” Sans explained, gazing up at the sink that almost touched the ceiling.

     “I think it’s a lil’ overdone,” I said.

     Sans shrugged. “c’mon, we can wash ‘em in the bathroom.”

     I followed him to a wall, and he opened up a door that was painted to blend in with it. “paps said it was an eyesore since we never really use it, so we painted over it.” he proceeded to sit down on the sink and watch me scrub the dishes.

     “Ain’t gonna help, huh?” I glanced at him.

     “nah, think i’ll just watch,” Sans grinned.

     I rolled my eyes and continued washing them, but there really weren’t that many. When I was almost done, Sans spoke up.

     “kiddo, can i ask ya somethin’?”

     “Sure.”

     “why do you flinch away from touch?”

     I froze mid-scrub. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” My accent dropped.

     “oh, i think ya do,” he said, crossing his legs and swinging them. “y’know, when paps went to pick you up.”

     “I was just…startled, that’s all,” I said, putting the last plate on the counter, still refusing to look at him. He suddenly reached out toward my face, and I jerked my head away, finally looking up at him in a mixture of fear and dread.

     “startled, huh?” he said, returning his hand to his pocket.

     “Okay, so I don’t like the feeling of being touched, what’s your point?” I snapped.

     He blinked slowly, cocking his head to the side. “nothing. just wanted to prove something.” He hopped off the counter and grabbed the dishes. “i’ll put these away.”

     “Wait,” I called after him as he went downstairs back to the kitchen. “Prove what!?”

     No answer.

     I went to follow him, but I walked by Papyrus, who was snoring away on the couch. I smiled and put one of the couch pillows under his skull. “This happen often?” I whispered as Sans helped drape a bunny blanket over his brother.

     He nodded. “you can sleep in my room; paps’ bed might be a little too stiff.”

     “What about you?”

     He shrugged. “I can sleep anywhere.”

     I didn't know how right he was until the next morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooohhhh, what do you guys think happened to her to make her afraid of touch??  
> Anyway, I have an explanation of why this isn't compliant with the game. I was thinking that maybe this whole thing could take place before Frisk ever even shows up, like before the RESETs. I dunno, it might be my mind trying to make excuses of why it's not following the game's lead.


	6. A/N...You don't have to read if you don't want

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ugh...is disappointed.....wow.....

    Hey guys, um...Kastrallis here. Ok, so. I got a Steam card to go play Undertale for myself, and I got home, typed in the number, and *boop*! It wanted my address. I was like, "Dude, are you serious? I'm not fuckin' stupid enough to give out where I live for a game." Soo...I didn't. So Imma wait until I get my own place and _then_ get it. Cuz right now I live with my parents. Hey, don't judge!

    So the point is, it'll be a while before I'm actually able to play it...

    Wow, you're still here? Still reading? Huh...I...didn't think I'd get this far...so, just for sticking around, I'll tell you what my -tentative- plans are for the Protectors series.

    Basically what's gonna happen is just how Ink explained it in the first segment. One AU, a few days in the Anti-Void, and another AU. I was planning on doing Underswap next, and Underfell after that, but what do _you_ think? Tell me what AU you want to see next, and I will do my best to write the best story it deserves. ~~oh god what have I done hopefully nobody says Underlust oh boy.~~

    Well! I uh...hope you enjoyed this little interlude, however boring it may have been. I'm really glad people are reading this thing. It was originally meant to be like a cure for writer's block in between a book I'm writing (I want to publish it when it's finished, so look for a book titled 'Thunderwar'). Then I finished the first chapter and I was like, "Huh, this is some pretty good shit," annnddd that's the condensed story of how it came to be that you're reading this right now.

    If you have any requests, shout 'em at me, and I'll do my best to fulfill your wish. So! I'll see y'all in the next chapter! Well, I won't exactly _see_ you, I'll just...y'know what, I'll shut up. Gute Nacht, Meine Freunden! (Good night, my friends!) Yes, I speak German. (Ich sprache Deutsch.) Okay bye~


	7. Letting My Hair Down (So to Speak)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not much really happens in this chapter, but...yeah, I'll let you read it for yourself now.

     I awoke the next morning to low, soft snores coming from the other side of the room and looked over to see Sans. He was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, hands in his pockets. I sat up and stretched, letting out a giant yawn that made me feel like a damn lion. I even had a ‘mane’. I ran my fingers through my hair and put it up in a ponytail like I usually do.

     I looked around to see what the room looked like in the light, only to see that it was a complete and utter _mess._ Several articles of clothing lay scattered about the floor, and a neglected treadmill sat in the middle of the room, practically hidden by a mountain of socks. Movement caught my eye at the other corner, and I snorted when I saw that it was a self-sustaining trash tornado. Damn I wish I had one of those. That’s convenient shit right there.

     The sight of sunlight streaming through the window told me I needed to get up, but the bed was so comfy. No, I _had_ to get up! I was filled with a sense of Perseverance, and I hauled myself off of the bed. But I pushed too hard and wound up face planting on the floor. The sound must’ve woke Sans up, because I heard him snort at my predicament.

     “ya **_fallin’_** for me, or what?” he teased.

     I glared up at him, my tail swatting the dust in the air. I suddenly sat up, dramatically putting a hand over my heart. “Sans! I’m **_floored!_** _”_

     Papyrus suddenly slammed the door open, back in his cooking garb. “MY PUN SENSE IS TINGLING!”

     Sans and I took one look at each other and busted out laughing, leaving a very confused Papyrus to try and figure out exactly what happened before he got there.

     I wheezed so hard I fell backward, and my hair tie somehow snapped from the impact. “Oh shi-oot,” I said quietly, catching my swear when I heard Sans take a sharp breath. From my position on the floor, I asked awkwardly, “Uh…you guys wouldn’t happen to have any spare hair ties, wouldja?”

     “SILLY HUMAN! WE HAVE NO HAIR CARE PRODUCTS HERE! AS YOU CAN SEE, WE HAVE NO USE FOR THEM!” Papyrus yelled out, smoothing a hand over his skull like he was slicking some nonexistent hair back as he spoke.

     “Uh…okay….any string, then?”

     “oop, hold on,” Sans said.

     “SANS! DON’T GIVE HER YOUR GROSS SHOELACE! WHO KNOWS WHERE IT’S BEEN!?”

     “i do,” he stated, “’s been on my shoe this whole time. i know that from the depths of my-“

     “SANS. DON’T YOU DARE.”

     _“ **sole,** ”_ he finished, snickering.

     Papyrus took a deep, ragged breath, and I could tell he was trying not to explode.

     I rolled my eyes and sat up, swiveling my head to try to find something suitable to hold my hair in place. Both brothers froze, and I looked up at them from the sudden silence. They were both staring at me, and I looked awkwardly from side to side, balling up and wrapping my arms around my knees. “What’re you two **_boneheads_** starin’ at?”

     “SANS,” Papyrus said, a mischievous grin forming on his face. “HIDE ALL OF THE STRING.”

<\-------≪≫------->

     “Holy shit, really!?” Undyne guffawed when I got done telling her the story of why my hair was down and why the two skeletons had dropped me off here so I wouldn’t see where they hid the string.

     “Really,” I confirmed and took a sip of my tea. The table was fixed – by ‘fixed’ I mean there were two by fours nailed on either side of the fracture. It still rattled a bit, and she had told me not to be too rough with it, but it was sturdy enough to hold a cup of tea, at least. I made a mental note to keep on the lookout for a new one. “So do you have any hair ties?” I looked up at her hopefully.

     An evil grin crept its way across her face, and she made no effort to hide it. “Nope.”

     “But Undyyynnnee,” I whined, “You have like, a mountain of hair yourself; you’ve _gotta_ have at least _one_ lying around somewhere!”

     “’Fraid not, punk,” she shook her head, making her fiery red pony tail sway behind her.

     “Ugh,” I felt tempted to bang my head on the table, but I remembered it was already broken once and decided not to.

     She snickered at my situation. “Guess you’ll just have to deal with the stares until ya find one.” She stood up and walked over to the piano, tea in hand.

     “You play?” I asked. Somehow Undyne didn’t seem like the kind of person to be musically inclined. To me, at least.

     She sat down on the bench and went bottoms-up with her tea, making a satisfied sound when she put it down. “Course I do,” she positioned her hands on the keys and glanced up at the music sheet in front of her. Before I could respond, her hands started pressing the keys, swiftly and gracefully, never missing a beat. Well, if she _did_ miss one, I certainly didn’t notice.

     I sat and listened to the song, sipping my tea occasionally. It was a beautiful tune; it reminded me of the realm she lived in – Waterfall. It was also sad, and reminded me of how life was about five years ago. Everything was perfect. Well, not quite. Not perfect. My sister and I just made the best of what we had and deemed it perfect, and it was to us. Now what was left?

     I didn’t realize the song had ended until Undyne waved a sea blue hand in front of my face.

     “Hellooo, earth to Minx, anybody there?” she drawled until I shook my head and refocused on her face. “You okay? You spaced out on me there.”

     “Yeah, yeah. I’m fine, just part star,” I joked, earning a scoff and an eye roll.

     “You’re fine,” she informed me and ruffled my still-down hair. “Ya want any more tea?”

     “Please,” I held out my empty up as she poured more into it.

     She gave herself a refill before sitting down and taking a swig. “Hey Minx.”

     “Sup?”

     “What was the surface like?”

     I set my cup down and tilted my head in thought. “It was okay,” I finally said.

     “Just okay?”

     I shrugged, swirling the liquid in my cup around with a spoon. “I was seen as a monster, so…!! No offense, just…an expression,” I said the last part quickly, and she snorted and nodded in understanding. I sighed. “Humans aren’t very…tolerant of things that aren’t one of them, and some have a fascination with figuring out what makes them tick. So to me, it was dangerous to fuckin’ go outside,” I laughed softly, “Funny, ain’t it?”

     She cocked her head. “No, dafuq’s funny about it?”

     “No matter how hostile I think it is, I still feel like you guys would be happier up there. With the sunshine, the birds, the stars, oh and the moon! You just…deserve a fuck ton more than just being imprisoned in a damn mountain, for fuck’s sake!” I ranted. When I had put in my two cents, I took a deep breath and looked back down at my cup. “I’m…sorry. I shouldn’t be bogging you down with all of this.”

     “No, I agree with ya,” Undyne nodded, “We _do_ deserve a fuck ton more, but there’s really nothing we can do about it until we get a seventh human SOUL to break the barrier.”

     “Which reminds me,” I snapped my head up. “I gotta go back to Alphys’ lab and see if anything came of that SOUL study.”

     She looked up at the wall clock and heaved a sigh, gathering up our cups and putting them in the sink. “Sorry, punk. Can’t take ya there; gotta patrol.”

     “That’s okay, I can walk there myself,” I waved my hand in dismissal.

     “Aight. Lemme just text Paps and let him know ya won’t be here if he shows up,” she whipped out her phone. “Which reminds me, here’s my number. If ya ever need anything, just say the word and I’m there.” she handed me a slip of paper.

     Damn, was I collecting phone numbers or what? “Oh! Thanks,” I put the paper in my pocket.

     She nodded and started toward a door to the left. “Don’t freak out when I come back, m’kay?”

     I gave a confused face and nodded. She came back into the room all decked out in her armor, complete with helmet and everything. Her metal boots clanged on the floor, and she stopped to jokingly strike a pose. “Noice,” I said in an Australian accent.

     Her chuckle echoed around the inside of the armor. “Thanks. Whelp, I’m off,” she clanged out the door, her red ponytail swishing back and forth as she walked.

     “Stay away from Hotland! Don’t want you ta bake again!” I called after her. She raised her arm in acknowledgment, and I started off for Hotland.

<\-------≪≫------->

     Endogeny was elated to see me again, and he danced around me in circles, mildly impeding my journey toward the room at the end of the hallway. I laughed and ruffled the fur on his head. “’M happy to see you, too buddy!” finally we made it, and the contented Amalgamate loped into the room behind me.

     Sure enough, we found Alphys sitting at her desk, typing furiously on a pink anime laptop.

     “Hey, Al,” I chimed, waving though she couldn’t see me.

     “Eep!” she squeaked and slammed her laptop closed, swiveling her chair to face me. “Oh! Uh, h-hi, Minx,” she said nervously, wringing her hands.

     I looked at her in good-natured suspicion. “Whatcha writin’, there?” I put my hands behind my back.

     She started sweating bullets. “U-um…j-just um…sc-science notes, r-real boring stuff, heh…” she smiled widely before cocking her head. “Y-your hair is d-down!”

     I blinked slowly. “Did you find out anything with my SOUL?”

     Relief flooded her face. “Oh! Yeah, um…I have good news and bad news, which do you want to hear first?” she relayed.

     “I suppose I’ll have one order of the worst news you have, please,” I requested, making a smile tug at the corners of her mouth.

     “Well, the bad news is that unfortunately your SOUL isn’t usable to break the barrier due to it being damaged,” she said, “But the good news is that I found that maybe there’s a chance that we could genetically modify a monster’s SOUL to meet the qualifications, though I’m not sure of how we’d go about it…”

     “Every great journey starts with a single step,” I quipped, sensing Endogeny shifting on his front paws in agreement. “Though you need to promise me something,” I stepped a little closer, placing a hand on her shoulder to look straight into her eyes. “Never. Ever. Do live experiments on still-living subjects. Do you promise me?”

     Her eyes shifted around the room. “Y-yeah, I promise…”

     “Alphys. Promise me. Please.” I gripped her other shoulder, forcing her to look at me.

     Her eyes finally met mine, and I saw a resolve flash behind them from seeing the raw emotion in mine. “I promise,” she said.

     I nodded approvingly and released her shoulders.

     She glanced up at the clock and gripped the arms of her chair, jumping to her feet. “Shoot! It’s past f-feeding time!” she said in her equivalent of a yell, the quiet soul.

       As she walked away, I discreetly opened the face of her laptop and unlocked it – it inexplicably didn’t ask for a password. Endogeny loomed over my shoulder as I smirked at the words on the screen. “’Science notes’, huh?” I snorted.

     Alphys turned on her heels, and her face turned pure red. “Y-yeah, i-it’s a report on how h-human re-reproduction w-works, heh…”

     I wasn’t convinced, but I humored her by nodding, stowing away the information for later. I closed the laptop, striding toward the exit, to which Endogeny whined to. “Whelp, I’d better get going. Oh, and Alph,” she turned to look at me, “Nice story.”

     She started sputtering, her face turning redder than before (if that was even possible).

     I smiled and started walking, my hands behind my back.

     “Th-thank you!” her meek voice echoed down to me.

     I waved my acknowledgement. _That fucking otaku._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to let you guys know, I won't be updating as often as I was before. I'll still post chapters and stuff, but I have college all day on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I won't be able to post for a block of time in the middle of the week. Though that's when y'all are mostly in school, so why would you be reading, anyway? So...yeah, that's my little spiel.  
>  Don't worry, more shit will happen in the coming chapters. I've just been floating around, wondering what to do next, well. I thought of shit. So I'll write about said shit. And you will read it. Yeah, I'm weird. Well, see ya on the flip-flop! Tchuss! (Later!)


	8. Smells like Mettaton...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yes, two chapters in one day! Shit will go down next chapter (I think...) Enjoy!

     I was exhausted. Spending a day with a band of royal guards who all happened to be dogs really took it out of me. Being pushed that way, pulled that way, getting demands to pet, and the never ending requests to sniff my person to see if I really _was_ one of their kinfolk. Once they understood I was a wolf, they treated me as an honored guest. Greater Dog had even hopped out of his armor to fall asleep in my lap for a while as I held a conversation with a guard named Doggo. Charming guy, but his breath reeked of burnt dog treats. Then again, all of their breath stank. Anyway, I had to keep rocking back and forth so he could see me; he said he couldn’t see anything that didn’t move. When I went to leave due to the time, all of the dogs had formed a battalion around the exit, preventing me from leaving, and I had to pet and treat my way out of the **_hairy_** situation.

     Man, I must be spending too much time around Sans – now my thoughts are starting to make puns, too.

     The couch was starting to feel lumpy. I had insisted that Sans have his own bed for the night; my conscience was starting to cloud from stealing it. I didn’t regret my decision because of the rhythmic snores that emanated from the room above. He said he could sleep anywhere, but that didn’t give me the right to take the privilege of a nice comfy bed from him. Finally I moved my pillow and blanket to the floor and settled in there. I’ve always been more comfortable on the floor; I don’t know if it’s because of my being a wolf, or what.

     I still didn’t have a hair tie, and the constant need to push the hair back over my shoulder was starting to drive me up the fucking wall. Though the action seemed to catch the eye of a certain pun-lover, my hair matches my personality – rebellious. Even in a ponytail it gets in the way more often than not. I’ll have to find someone to braid it tomorrow; I can’t braid my hair to save my own damn life.

     A fierce growling sound startled me, and I laughed at my own stupidity after I realized it was the menace that was my stomach. I was too comfy to go heckling for something to eat, so I just settled in more snug and drifted off.

     I was the first one to wake up the next morning, surprisingly. I don’t know why I was so surprised; it just seemed like Papyrus was the kind of person, er, skeleton to wake up early. A glance at my phone let me know it was 6:00, and the biting pain in my stomach let me know it was breakfast. It seemed like everything on my body matched my personality. Besides, after having straight meals of spaghetti for a couple days, I was starting to get a little sick of it. I love Papyrus to death, but I didn’t think I could stand eating another plate of the dreaded Italian dish.

     Before I could even roll over to get up, the door to the cinnamon bun’s room opened up, and there stood its owner, all dressed and ready to boldly face another day. He victoriously put his fists on his hip bones and took a deep breath in, sighing in a satisfied manner. His eyes caught mine, and he smiled brightly. “GOOD MORNING, HUMAN! …WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON THE FLOOR?”

     I giggled. “Good morning Paps,” I stretched. “Meh, decided to set up camp on the floor last night.”

     He made a confused face. “THERE ARE MANY THINGS ABOUT YOU HUMANS I DO NOT UNDERSTAND. OH! DID YOU HEAR THE BEAST LAST NIGHT?”

     “Beast?” I stood up, rolling my head to work out a crick in my neck.

     “YES! THE BEAST! IT WAS GROWLING ALMOST ALL NIGHT!”

     I rubbed my arm in chagrin when I realized what it was. “Uh…Paps, that was my stomach…I’m sorry, I hope I didn’t keep you up…”

     “DO NOT FEAR, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM ABLE TO SLEEP THROUGH ANYTHING! NOW LET’S GET THAT BEAST TAKEN CARE OF!” he triumphantly started for the kitchen.

     “Oh, hey Papyrus,” I called, making him turn to look at me inquisitively. “How about I make breakfast, you can get Sans up.”

     “OF COURSE, DEAR HUMAN! I WILL GET THE –AHEM- LAZYBONES UP AND READY!” he marched upstairs.

     I chuckled and went into the kitchen.

<\------≪≫------>

     “HUMAN? THIS IS THE STRANGEST SPAGHETTI I’VE EVER SEEN,” Papyrus said, inspecting the pancake on his plate.

     “Well, I decided to try something a bit different this morning. These are pancakes, try it! I think you’ll like it,” I cut a piece of my own fluff and popped it in my mouth.

     He followed my lead and chewed it, looking to the side in thought. After swallowing, he said, “YOU WERE RIGHT, HUMAN! THESE ‘PANCAKES’ ARE DELICIOUS!” and he proceeded to go to town on the food in front of him.

     Sans and I glanced at each other, and he pulled a bottle of ketchup out of his jacket and went ahead and drowned his pancake in it. “Um…” I said meekly, letting the piece of pancake slip off my fork and back onto the plate. I watched in dumbfounded surprise as he started eating his pancake despite it being soaked through with ketchup.

     “what?” he said with his mouth full.

     I shook my head and refocused on my own breakfast.

     “WELL, I MUST GO PATROLLING FOR MORE HUMANS NOW! SEE YOU LATER, HUMAN! SANS, IF YOUR PUZZLES AREN’T RECALIBRATED BY THE TIME I GET BACK… I DON’T KNOW YET WHAT I’LL DO, BUT IT WILL BE SOMETHING BEFITTING FOR THE GEAT PAPYRUS! NYEH HEH!” he pointed up at the ceiling and bolted up the door, letting out a chorus of ‘NYEHs’ as he dashed down the street.

   Sans and I shared a look and finished our own pancakes. By now I had shrugged off how he could eat the pancake when it was saturated in the red substance known as ketchup.

     I grabbed the dishes when we were both done. “You gonna do some actual work today?” I teased.

     “…i think so,” he answered after a few seconds.

     I turned to look at him and raised my eyebrows. “Really?”

     “yep. whelp, better get going if i wanna **_ketchup_** to ‘em,” he winked.

     I snorted. “Well, I’m glad you **_mustard_** up the courage.”

     “i **_relish_** that fact.”

     “I’ll take that as a **_condiment,_** _”_ I smirked and crossed my arms, signaling the end of the pun-off.

     He caught on and took one last jab, “don’t get too **_salty._** _”_

     “We girls _are_ made of **_sugar and spice,_** hun,” I shouldered up to him and gave him a crooked grin.

     “well let’s see just how **_saucy_** you really are, then,” he smirked back.

     I felt my face heat up ever so slightly. Hot damn was I a sucker for smirks. “Not if it’ll distract you from your job.”

     The little pinpricks of light in his eyes looked from eye to eye on me, and he finally gave in with a groan. “fine…” he dragged his feet to the door and put on his slippers. He took one last look at me before reluctantly trudging out the door when I made a shooing motion with my hands.

     After I had done the dishes and sat around on my ass for a while, my phone suddenly did the little jingle that said I had a message. It was from Alphys.

Hey, um…would it be too much of a bother to come to the lab? There’s someone here who would like to meet you…

     I smiled and shook my head; I could imagine the text being read off in her voice.

Sure! Just gimme a bit, I’ll be right over.

     I thought curiously about who would want to meet me as I took a shower and made sure I looked presentable. After a little while, I was all gussied up (in my standards) and ready to go. Giving a once-over to the house, I gave one more thought as to who it would be before stepping out the door to go to Hotland.

<\-------≪≫------->

     My curiosity was instantly turned to dread when I heard someone’s robotic voice before I had even knocked on the door to the lab. Fuck, I wanted to see Endogeny, too. I considered just aborting mission and going back to the house, but by sheer courtesy to Alphys, I steeled myself and knocked.

     The door opened to the familiar sight of Alphys, but she was all dressed up in a polka-dot dress that I thought suited her very well. She smiled and opened her mouth to say something, but a voice from deeper in the room beat her to it.

     “Darling! Are _you_ the one I heard so much about?” a robot girl with surprisingly fluid movements practically knocked Alphys out of the way in her excitement. She looked up with a dreamy look on her metallic face. “Ooh my, this will get me so many ratings! Come! We must get you fixed up!” she ran off to another room.

     “Eheh, th-that’s Mettaton,” the drake explained, “I h-hope you don’t m-mind being on st-stage too much. He has his heart set on h-having you on h-his sh-show tonight.”

     Wait. _He!?_ Holy shit, I thought he was a fucking chick! “U-um…sure, only if it’s only once…” I grabbed a piece of my hair and stroked it.

     “Great! Alphys, be a dear and take her to makeup!” Mettaton leaned back into the room to say such a thing.

     “Wait. _MAKEUP!?”_ I screeched, and Alphys shrugged apologetically and ushered me forward. “NO! No no no no! Not the makeup! Anything but the makeup!” I tried to twist around and run, but an elastic arm wrapped around my torso and lifted me into the air, so all I could do was flail around like an idiot.

     With his other arm Mettaton lifted up a red mermaid dress and held it up. “Yes, this will suit you nicely,” he said approvingly.

     “Fuck no you’re not getting me in a dress! Alphys, halp!” I looked back at her, but she only shrugged.

     I don’t fucking care how many bitches I have to kill, I am _not_ getting in that dress.

<\-------≪≫------->

     I don’t fucking believe it. I’m in the damn dress. How the fuck he did it I have no clue, but he was able to dodge my flaming fists of fury and somehow finagle the article of clothing on me. He said that, quote, “my boobs are too small to rock a keyhole,” so he retailored it to accentuate my hips, and the neckline dipped to below my collarbone. Finally, they both had to hold my head still so Mettaton could apply the accursed makeup. The only thing I held still for was when they were putting my hair in a braid; it felt wonderful to have it up again.

     “Now, to get you to the studio,” he tapped his chin in thought.

     “Y’know I’m gonna fight tooth and nail the whole way there, right?” I folded my arms and popped a hip out, my tail thrashing irritably.

     “H-here, I’ve heard that this calms wolves d-down,” Alphys said, putting a warm towel over my head.

     “Hey! I-hhhhh,” my sentence cut off in the middle to give way to a satisfied sigh, my torso sagging.

     I felt arms pick me up and put me in a car, which started moving, but I didn’t really give a shit. I was too busy being content all curled up under this strange comforting shield. I was almost sad when the car stopped and I was pulled out of the car, carried into a building, and set into a chair. I was still preoccupied when Mettaton started speaking into a microphone; what exactly he said went right over my head.

     He suddenly came over and pulled me on stage, taking the towel off of my head. I almost whined in disappointment but was distracted by hoots and hollers from the crowd in front of me. I froze, and my knees nearly buckled when I saw the size of the audience. Holy shit, this was _not_ in the agreement. _There were so many!!_

     Mettaton swooped an arm under my back to keep me from falling. “She’s a little woozy, darlings! Let’s make her feel a little more at home!”

     The crowd started yelling joyfully, and I waved shyly. There were a few ‘Awws’ in the audience. Responsive, aren’t they?

     “Ooh yes! Look at these ratings!”

     I looked up at the huge T.V screen, and there was an animate line graph that was quickly and steadily rising. I faced forward again and flinched when I saw Mettaton’s face mere inches from mine.

     “Darling, shall we dance?” he held out his hand in a gentlemanly manner.

     “M-Mettaton, I…I don’t know how to dance…” I tried to speak quietly, but I guess my voice carried into the microphone, because the crowd gasped in disbelief.

     “Well now, that _is_ a problem!” he raised his voice, standing to his full height. “Beauties and gentlebeauties! What do you say we do about this?”

     They all went nuts, and the most general response I heard was ‘teach her’.

     He heard it too and turned to me with a sultry expression on his face, stepping toward me. I backed up.

     _Fuck fuck fuck fuck f-_ my colorful thoughts cut off when I hit a wall that I swear on my honor wasn’t there before. He placed a hand next to my head, trapping me there while the crowd hooted. “Now…” he said softly, “Shall we dance?”

<\------≪≫------->

     I actually had fun dancing up there on stage. Once I had gotten the hang of it, that is. He had taught me the tango, and before long, we were dancing across the stage like a couple of pros. The poor guy had to bend for most of it due to my small stature, but he didn’t really seem to mind. His smile had grown a little more every time he glanced at the ratings. I still don’t really like him that much, but it was nice to see him that happy.

     He drove me back to Alphys’ lab and said goodbye, telling me I could keep the dress and saying it was courtesy of MTT brand. I thanked him out of courtesy of my own, but in the back of my mind I was thinking that I was _never_ going to wear it again.

     I tried to sneak into the house, but as soon as I opened the door, I was greeted by Papyrus’ yelling.

     “HUMAN! YOU WERE WONDERFUL! YOU GOT TO MEET METTATON!? WHAT WAS HE LIKE!? COULD YOU INTRODUCE ME TO HIM SOMETIME!?”

     “Goodness, Paps! Twenty questions, or what?” I said playfully, my ears going back a bit. “I could maybe set something up, but you’ll have to go to bed first; it’s getting late.”

     “OKIE-DOKEY!” he said and bounded up the stairs and into his room, unintentionally slamming the door behind him.

     I caught sight of Sans on the couch and smiled, striding over to him and leaning over the couch to speak. “You too, lazy bones.”

     He looked up at me, a tinge of blue on his cheeks that grew brighter at the sight of me. “you uh…ya look nice…” he said quietly, shrinking into his jacket.

     “D’aww, thanks Sans,” I tilted my head and smiled.

     “i uh…hafta read paps his bedtime story,” he said, standing up and initiating project shifty eyes.

     “Okay then,” I said, nodding and giving him an opportunity to go upstairs and into his little brother’s room.

     It wasn’t until I had plopped down on the couch that I realized my other clothes were still at the lab. I’ll have to go get them tomorrow, but for right now, this seems to be the only thing I can sleep in right now. My eyes fluttered closed, and I fell into a surprisingly peaceful sleep.

~~~~~~~

     _Where am I? This seems familiar…empty blackness, nothing in it. The darkness tore at my SOUL, feeling almost hungry._

_Suddenly the black skeleton from before walked up to me and spoke. **“Heya. You’re Minx, right?”**_

_“Y-yes?” I said, reluctant to trust him._

_**“Thought so. The name’s Error Sans. Error for short. Don’t expect a handshake, if that’s what you’re thinking. Anyway, I’m here to tell ya. Don’t trust Ink. He’s a deceiver. No, don’t speak, just listen. He exiled me here, the Void. There’s absolutely nothing here. And I’m stuck here for who knows how long. Don’t trust him. For your own safety, don’t trust him.”**_

_I was about to say something, but something from the conscious world was shaking me awake before I could._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Error: server could not be found. Please reset and try again.
> 
> LOL just kidding I'm here. See what I did there?? huh? HUH!? Yeah I'll shut up now...  
>  To be honest, it's weird going to bed in real life right after writing about someone going to bed XD


	9. It's time...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I won't spoil what happens, but shit...kinda goes down, I guess?? I mean, it's a legit fight scene, so...yeah.

     After being shaken awake this morning by a pair of concerned-looking skeletons and insisting that it was just a nightmare, I had a bowl of cereal and headed back to Alphys’ lab for my clothes. The cereal was terrible, but it was food at least. I was reading the back of the box while I ate, and it was called ‘Temmie Flakes’, and all it had on the back was the word “H0i” scattered everywhere. Weird.

     I sighed and knocked on the familiar metal doors, hoping I wasn’t being too pushy by popping over so much. But nobody came. I knocked again, louder this time. Was she down in the lab? Then again, if she was, she would’ve seen me on the cameras by now and said hello over the speakers like before. Getting concerned, I tried the doorknob and it was locked. “Alphys!?” I yelled but received no answer. “Alphys, honey, if you’re in there, I’m sorry about the door ahead of time!” I took a few steps back and blasted the door down with a ball of flame.

     I stepped inside, and to my surprise, Endogeny was standing in the middle of the room, whining pitifully. Even seeing me didn’t cheer him up.

     “Endogeny? What happened?” I asked, running my hand over his back to try and calm the distraught Amalgamate. It didn’t do much, and he just sadly motioned with his head to the rest of the room. I gasped; I was so caught up in consoling my friend that I hadn’t noticed the room was a wreck, I mean, more so than usual. All of the furniture had been ripped up, and there were scratch marks littering the floor and walls. What happened here?

     I quickly found my surprisingly untouched clothes and changed into them before going back to investigate. Endogeny suddenly started growling, and I started sensing something as well. I was studying one of the scratch marks when I felt someone wrap their arm around my face, or at least try to.

     Endogeny snarled ferociously and jumped onto my attacker, tossing him in the air like a ragdoll. I watched in stunned silence as the intruder took out a bottle of mace and used it on my friend, making him fall to the ground and moan in pain. That’s when I got mad. I ran over and jump kicked the bastard on the back, making him stumble forward a few steps. He whirled around to face me, fury making his eyes flash.

     “You just made a grave mistake, _buddy,”_ I snarled and leaped toward him, my hands bursting into flames.

     He went to use the mace on me, but I kicked it out of his hand and punched him in the jaw, hearing a satisfying _snap_ that let me know he’d be eating soup for weeks after this. Suddenly another one came up behind me and put a cloth over my mouth that smelled like heavy chemicals. I was able to twist out of his grasp, but not before my head started feeling funny. Both of them started circling me, and I tried to fight back, but the substance on the cloth had already taken its toll. The last thing I saw was Endogeny struggling to get back to his feet before everything went black.

     Lights out.

<\-------≪≫------->

     When I came to, I was being roughly shoved through a doorway with a bag over my head. I violently twisted my shoulder the best I could with my hands tied behind my back. “Bitch, I can fucking walk myself,” I spat. I could imagine my voice being muffled by the bag.

     I heard a grunt in reply, and I walked forward with a huff of my own, my tail twitching angrily.

     The other one suddenly grabbed my arm and tossed me to the floor while yanking the bag off my head. “Your majesty, we have found the human as you requested.”

     Majesty? Boy howdy, what kind of grave have I dug myself? My attention was brought front and center by movement. A huge goat dude with a gold beard and a purple cape stood from his throne and strode toward me, the horns on his head commanding authority. Behind him, I caught a glimpse of Alphys standing there and refusing to look at me.

     He bent at the waist to get a better look at me. I considered lashing out, but the feeling of being watched stamped out any rebellion I had – for now. He suddenly straightened and looked around the room. “Dismissed!” he proclaimed in a loud voice. I heard the sound of many shuffling feet as their owners left the court. He waited until we were alone – even Alphys had left. “You are not human, are you, little one?”

     I felt a flash of annoyance at the term ‘little one’, but I tried to keep it out of my voice. “No, sir.” I got to my feet and dusted myself off.

     “Hmm,” he said and took a stroll around me, almost as if he were sizing me up. He got back to in front of me and looked at me inquisitively. “If you are not human, how did you come to be here?”

     “It’s a long story, sir,” I answered truthfully.

     He smiled. “You have my attention. Come, we’ll discuss it over tea.” He shuffled over to the other side of the room, which had two pillows on either side of a little stove with a teapot on it. He sat down on one cushion and motioned for me to sit on the other. Once I had, he poured two cups out for both of us.

     I took a tentative sip. “Thank you sir.”

     He chuckled. “Please, call me Asgore.”

<\-------≪≫------->

     It seemed to me like Asgore was a little lonesome. He listened to my story about Ink and Dream, only interrupting to ask the occasional question. I had decided to tell him the whole truth; somehow I knew it would turn out for the better. When I had finished, he set down his cup and nodded his kingly head.

     “I see…” he said. “Do you think you’ll be able to find this parasite?”

     “I hope so. If the AUs were to collapse, so would this one, and I’ve grown too attached to you guys to let that happen.”

     He nodded again. “You said humans aren’t very tolerant. What would that mean for us?”

     I looked up at him sadly. “In all honesty, I don’t know. But when you _do_ escape, it will be hard for a while, and there will probably always be some kind of separation there, but…stay determined, y’know?” I smiled and drank the last of my tea.

     He laughed heartily. “Yes, we must stay determined,” he chuckled a little. “How many days do you have left here?”

     I recounted in my head. “About…a day…” it hit me what I had just said. One more day in Undertale?

     He sensed my distress and reached over to place a paw on my shoulder. “We will miss you, but we are also your friends, and we will support you when the time comes. If I see anything suspicious, I’ll call you. Oh, but I’ll need your phone number.”

     I smirked. “Well played,” I teased as I programmed the number into his phone.

     He chuckled again and returned the device to his pocket. “I will let you go now, but come see me before you have to leave tomorrow. So, until tomorrow, Minx.”

     I stood up and bowed Japanese style. “Until tomorrow, Asgore.”

<\-------≪≫------->

     “Y-YOU’RE LEAVING!? BUT WHY!?”

     “It’s just something I have to do, honey bun,” I consoled him.

     “BUT! BUT HUMAN! YOU WERE MY FIRST HUMAN FRIEND! YOU WILL CALL, YES!?”

     “Oh, Paps! Of course I will! Why would I not? Now why not make some of your gourmet spaghetti, huh?” I said.

     “YES! IT WILL BE THE BEST SPAGHETTI I’VE EVER MADE! JUST FOR YOU! NYEH HEH!” he marched into the kitchen, and the pots and pans started banging around.

     “hey, minx,” Sans said from the couch.

     “Yeah?” I sat down next to him.

     “this wouldn’t have anything to do with the other universes, would it?” he asked bluntly.

     “Y-yeah, how did you know?”

     “here,” he handed me his phone number, “if you ever need help, just say the word, okay?”

     He must be serious; he didn’t belt out one pun in the last minute.

     “Okay,” I said. “Hey!” I suddenly said. “Paps! How do y’all feel about invitin’ Undyne and Alphys over for a sleepover?”

     “THAT’S A WONDERFUL IDEA!” he leaned into the living room all decked out in his cooking garb again, which I had gotten used to by now. He looked back into the kitchen. “GAH! MY NOODLES!” he darted out of sight, and we heard him exclaiming as he tried to regain control of the rebellious pasta.

     I pulled Undyne’s number out of my pocket, and the other ones fell out. Sans bent to help pick them up and noticed the paper with Ink and Dream’s numbers on it. “ya know ‘em?” he held it up.

     I looked up. “Yeah, met ‘em in the Anti-Void. Do you?”

      He nodded. “yep. met ‘em quite a while ago. whelp, let’s get this slumber party started, eh?” he whipped out his phone and dialed Alphys’ number while I took care of Undyne’s.

     “Sup, punk?” her rough voice reached my ears.

     “Hey **_bass,_** just wonderin’ what you’re doin’ tonight.”

     “Judgin’ by the pun, stayin’ _far_ away from you,” she said.

     “Aw c’mon, don’t be so **_koi._** Anyway, I wanted to know cuz we’re plannin’ on a sleepover and I was wonderin’ if you’re free.” I smirked though she couldn’t see me.

     She sighed. “Wish I could, but I got patrol, and…”

     “Well just come after, then,” I offered.

     “With _two_ pun-makers under the same roof? I don’t think so.”

     I glanced at Sans and gave him a questioning thumbs-up, raising my eyebrows. He nodded and gave a thumbs up. “Alphys will be here,” I dangled a carrot over her nose.

     “…What time?”

<\-------≪≫------->

     “Alphys, it is okay!” I said for the fifth time.

     “N-no it’s not! You almost got k-killed b-because of me!” she was close to tears now. It was a good thing Undyne wasn’t there yet; she might’ve killed a bitch.

     “Hun, you were just fulfillin’ your duty as royal scientist, there’s nothin’ wrong with that. In fact, I should be thanking you; if it weren’t for you, I never would’ve met Asgore,” I rested my hand on her shoulder in consolation.

     “R-really?” she looked up at me hopefully.

     “Really,” I confirmed. I smiled, prompting her to smile back.

     Suddenly the door slammed open, revealing Undyne in her pajamas holding a pillow. _“I’m here, bi-“_ her swear cut off when she noticed Papyrus standing there. “Biscuits! I am here, biscuits!” she corrected herself, making me wonder if Sans ever gave her the same warning he gave me.

     “NYEH? BUT WE ARE NOT BISCUITS, UNDYNE!” the innocent one tilted his head like a parrot.

     I snorted rather loudly, and everyone started laughing.

   “Alright! Let’s get this party started!” Undyne leaped into the air, holding her pillow above her head like some sort of fluffy weapon. _“Pillow fight!”_

     I grabbed a couch pillow and fluffed it once, making a gun sound with my mouth and leaping off the back of the couch. “GET SOME!” I yelled as Undyne and I went head-to-head in pillow combat.

     “Split up into teams!” Undyne commanded, “If ya get hit in the head, you’re out!” all of us scattered into groups and dove behind walls and furniture; Undyne with Alphys, Sans with Papyrus, and I was the lone wolf. (Hurrhurr pun)

     I peeked out from the kitchen and assessed the situation. I could hear frantic whispers as everyone came up with a plan. I could see poor Papyrus trying to hide behind the couch, but it was hard because of his gangly limbs. I snuck up to him and tapped his skull. “Boo.”

     “NYAH!” he yelped and jumped up, and I lightly booped his head with my pillow.

     I sensed Sans move and jerked my head out of the way of a swinging pillow. Then all hell broke loose when Undyne and Alphys jumped out and started swinging their pillows, and Alphys and Sans both got out in the chaos.

     I whistled that western thing that meant a gun fight was taking place.

     “Well well well, look who brought a pillow to a gun fight,” she teased, starting to circle me.

     “More like you brought a gun to a pillow fight,” I countered, following her lead. The others cheered us on, and finally I made a move. I dropped to the floor and tried to sweep her legs out from under her, but she jumped over me and rolled on her side before jumping back up and hitting me on the head with the pillow. “Aww!” I said good-naturedly as the others applauded.

     “Good game,” she said as we bumped fists to show there were no hard feelings.

     “Whadd’ya say we do next, champion?” I asked.

     “Who wants to watch a movie!?” she yelled, pumping her fist heroically.

     “Aww yeah! You guys pick; I’ll go make popcorn!” I went to the kitchen and made some, roasting it a little with my SOUL fire and drizzling some butter on it that I had melted with my fire as well. After seasoning it with cinnamon, I brought the bowl to the living room to see that they had settled on a movie and set up a fort while they waited for me. “Popcorn’s ready!” I said before snuggling into the fort on my stomach, side-by-side with everyone else; just in time for the movie to start. I had to suppress a squeal when the Pirates of the Caribbean theme started.

<\-------≪≫------->

     I must’ve fallen asleep sometime during the movie, because the next thing I remembered was waking up still sandwiched between Sans and Alphys. The room was light, and I was the only one awake. That’s when I realized I didn’t mind the physical contact too much. Why was I awake? Oh, my phone was ringing upstairs. I must’ve left it up there when I called Undyne.

     I carefully extracted myself from the nest and padded upstairs into Sans’ room to see who could be calling me. It was Ink. “Hello?”

     _“Minx? Hi this is Ink. Ya ready to come back?”_

     I sighed sadly. “Not particularly, but sure. Just…gimme about an hour,” I said.

     _“Okie-dokie. See you soon.”_

     “Alright then. Buh-bye,” I said and hung up.

     I went back downstairs and shook everybody awake, saying I had to leave.

     “Why, punk, what’s goin’ on?” Undyne yawned, stretching her arms.

     I waited until everyone was awake before explaining why I couldn’t stay.

     They were all silent for a minute before Undyne reached behind her head and took her hair down. “Here,” she held out the hair tie to me, “I know it’s not much, but…I want ya to have it.”

     I handled it like a sacred artifact. It was a simple black band, with little red sparkles in it. “Thank you, Undyne.” I took my current hair tie out and replaced it with the one she just gave me.

     “Th-thank you…for um…everything,” Alphys stammered, wringing her hands.

     “No, Al,” I put a hand on her shoulder. “Thank _you.”_ I turned to Sans. “Whelp. guess this is good-bye.”

     He stared into space. “i’d make a pun right now, but i can’t think of anything. guess my pun tank’s runnin’… ** _bone dry,_** _”_ everyone groaned while I laughed and turned to Papyrus.

     “HUMAN, GIVE ME YOUR HAND,” he said and tore off a strip of his own scarf while I did as he asked. He wrapped it a couple times around my wrist and tied it. “Always remember, I, the great Papyrus, believe in you.”

     “I will, Paps. I will,” I wrapped my arms around his neck and almost got the wind knocked out of me when he picked me up.

     He put me back down and I glanced at my phone. “I’d better go,” I said, and they all walked me out the door. “Oh, and Alphys,” I said, “Remember your promise.”

     She nodded, and I smiled and started off for the castle, waving back at them until I rounded a bend and couldn’t see them anymore.

     When I got there, I was surprised to find that the guards readily let me inside the throne room; they must’ve been expecting me.

     “Ah, Minx,” Asgore said and stood.

     “Asgore,” I greeted him respectfully and bowed my head.

     “It is almost time, yes?”

     “Yes sir,” I confirmed.

     He nodded and extended his arm. “Come. I have something to give you.” He led me down a hall and to a separate room. He opened a small chest and took out a golden necklace. I recognized the charm as the symbol on the front of Toriel’s robe. “This is a Delta Rune. It will keep you safe,” he put it around my neck and redid the hook. “Promise me to never take it off.”

     “I promise,” I said. I started feeling a pull at my SOUL, and I looked down at my hands to see them fluctuating in and out of existence. “Asgore,” I said, “It’s time.”

     “Very well,” he said. “Stay determined, Minx.”

     I nodded and bowed before passing out again.

~~~~~~~

     _I was back in the Void, but I didn’t get visited by Error again. This time I just got a glimpse of the other skeleton who was with him before. God, that seems like ages ago now. He smiled ominously at me before everything started growing light, lighter, yet lighter._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See what I did at the end there? Hhhhh I gotta sleep now. Night, everyone...(snore)


	10. Back To the Anti-Void

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, this marks the end of Undertale. Before you read this final part, start thinking about what AU you want me to write about next. IT IS NOT OVER YET!!

     I woke up to see both Ink and Dream hovering over me. “Damn are you guys a sight for sore eyes,” I mumbled, making them smile.

     “She’s fine,” Ink said, getting up and helping me to my feet.

     “You were _amazing!”_ Dream jumped in the air, clapping his hands.

     “Wait, just how much did you see?” I asked.

     “Well, we took turns watching you through the dimensional windows, so we each saw different things,” Ink said.

     “So what was the deal with the blue flowers?” I asked.

     “Oh, those? Huh, I’m surprised no one explained them,” Ink shrugged. “Those were Echo Flowers. They repeat the last thing they heard, over and over. Only, if ya know the right tricks, you can use them as a walkie-talkie of sorts, like we did. You _did_ do very well, though. With how rough around the edges you were when we met, I didn’t take you as such a pacifist.”

     I shouldered up to him. “And _what_ is that s’pose to mean?”

     A rainbow blush grew on his cheeks. “Ah, nothing, just…uh,” he grew more flustered.

     “I dunno, she was pretty tough when MTT tried to get her in that dress,” Dream rescued him.

     I threw a glare at no one in particular. “Ugh, don’t remind me. I may be mentally scarred for life cuz of that.”

     “Aww c’mon, you looked like you were having fun dancing up there,” Ink nudged my arm.

     “Oh no, you saw me dance!?” I almost shrieked, feeling my face go red.

     “You were pretty good at it, though!” Dream joined in, making me cover my face in embarrassment.

     “You were!” Ink agreed, rubbing my back. “Not to mention, you _did_ look pretty nice in that dress…”

     “Are you kidding? ‘Pretty nice’? You were drooling!” Dream stated, and I looked up at the artist in mortification.

     Ink shot a death glare at Dream, then looked back at me with his eyes wide. “No I wasn’t! He doesn’t know what he’s talking about!”

     “Psh! Yeah I do!” Dream huffed, “He was even leaning forward in his seat, and the popcorn fell out of his mouth!”

     “Popcorn?” I turned to Ink with my eyebrows raised. “Just how long _were_ you guys watching me like creepers?”

     “W-we weren’t watching you like creepers! We were just um…watching to see if you were alright!”

     “Mmhmm, sure. Sure,” I didn’t buy it in the least, but I dropped the subject. “Have you guys eaten yet?”

     “Nope! We were waiting for you,” Dream said, “we even got some new ingredients!”

     “That’s great, cookie,” I said, getting up and rubbing the top of his skull like I was ruffling his hair – if he had some. “I’ll go scare somethin’ up.”

     I wound up just making a stew, and I showed Dream some tips – one of them being not to go so heavy on the salt. It was pretty good, if I do say so myself. Each of us actually had a second helping.

     “Wait,” I said with a chunk of potato still in my mouth, “if y’all could watch the AUs, then why don’t you just do that to find the parasite?”

     “It knows about the trans-dimensional windows and where they are, so it can avoid them easily,” Ink explained. After he swallowed his mouthful.

     I nodded and lifted the bowl to my lips to drink the last mouthful of broth. I suddenly remembered something and slammed the bowl back onto the table. _“I didn’t say good-bye to Endogeny!!”_ I said with a sense of urgency in my voice.

     Ink looked up at me. “I’m sure he’s fine-“

     “Nah!” I shouted, “Is there any way to go back!?”

     “That would take up too much energy,” he said.

     I was crestfallen. My big melty baby…I didn’t even get to see if he was okay after getting maced by that bastard. At least said bastard is probably still drinking out of sippy cups from when I decked him. Serves him fucking right.

     “Minx? You okay?” Dream asked.

     I noticed I was clenching my fists so hard my knuckles were starting to turn white. The blood rushed back when I relaxed them. “Yeah, I’m fine, just…thinking about what that sonovabitch did to Endogeny.”

     “If you’re wondering about how he’s doing, don’t worry about it; he’s recovering nicely,” Ink reassured me.

     “’Recovering’?” I said, “So he got hurt enough that he had to recover?”

     “Sadly, yes. But he’s a toughie; he’s doing just fine,” Dream joined in.

     I reluctantly shrugged. “If you insist.” I started grabbing the dishes out of habit before Dream stopped me.

     “We’ll get the dishes; you look spent.”

     I nodded gratefully and went to the living room, plopping down on the couch and initiating mission think. What AU could be next? Would this be the one the parasite was hiding in? If it was, how would I go about killing it without getting infected myself? With these thoughts swimming through my head, I drifted off into a well-earned sleep.

     I woke up with Ink crouching in front of me, staring at my face intently. I jumped from his close proximity. “Dude, what the hell?” I mumbled, rubbing my eyes.

   He didn’t say anything but turned and swished his paintbrush in the air, leaving a dimensional rip in its path. I gasped in delight when I saw what he had opened it up to. There slept Endogeny, all curled up with his head tucked on his paws. Ink stepped aside, letting me get up and reach my arm through to the melty fluff.

     He lifted up his head and did his equivalent to a yawn. After snuffling my hand, he got up and twirled around, lifting his butt in the air at the sight of me. I laughed and beckoned for him. Then he got _really_ excited, jumping up and planting his front paws on the edge of the rift and nudging my head with his.

     I nudged back. It made me want to cry at what I had to say next. “’M sorry, buddy. I can’t come visit anymore…”

     He whined loudly, nudging me again, this time sadly. It seemed like he understood, though. He loped back to his bed and grabbed something from the other side, trotting back and dropping it into my hand.

     His ball. I smiled bitter sweetly. “You want me to throw it for you?”

     He uttered a few high-pitched whines before gently nudging it toward me again. “You want me to have it?”

     His tail started thrashing back and forth almost audibly, and he started panting.

     “I can’t keep it open for much longer,” Ink warned, and I nodded.

     “Okay, hun. I gotta go now. You take care of yourself, okay?” I stroked behind his ear.

     He whined and nudged my head once more before going back to his bed and lying down.

     I waved good-bye as the rip closed and turned to Ink when it was. “Thank you.”

     “No prob,” he waved his hand in dismissal.

     “…Well, I’m going to bed now. Good-night,” I stood up and went to go back upstairs. On second thought, I stopped and turned, planting a soft kiss on the top of his skull with my scarred lips. “Thanks again, Inky.” I finally came up with a nickname. Before I turned away, I swear I saw that multi-colored blush explode across his cheeks. I chuckled. _Cute._

<\-------≪≫------->

     The next few days flew by too fast for my liking, and it was way too soon that Ink, Dream, and I were standing in the studio, getting ready for my next journey in another AU.

     “Which one is next?” I asked, gazing up at the papers that all seemed to hold lives all their own – which they did, I realized.

     “You decide,” Ink said, gesturing to them.

     I turned back to the AUs and stepped inside the bubble they created. One of them caught my eye, and I pointed at it without a second thought. “This one.”

     They both nodded, and Dream came up to me to hide my Delta Rune necklace under my shirt. “It’d probably be better if no one there saw this,” he stated, “They’d kill you for it.”

     “That’s nice,” I said sarcastically. “Take care of Endogeny’s ball while I’m gone, kay?” I asked them.

     Ink gave me a thumbs-up, and I turned and walked toward the paper that held the AU of my choice.

     Lights out again.

~~~~~~~

     _Back in the Void. How many times had I been here now? I still like the Anti-Void better; at least the space doesn’t feel so hungry._

_**“Heya,”** a familiar voice said from behind me._

_I turned to see the black skeleton leaning against nothing as if it was a wall. “Hello, Error,” I said emotionlessly._

_He kicked off of the nothingness and strode toward me. **“What are you playing at?”**_

_“Pardon?” I cocked my head._

_**“What business do ya have, coming in here and hoppin’ dimensions like this?”**_

_I struggled to find an answer. “I…”_

_**“I’ve been watchin’ you. You are NOT supposed to be here. You’re not supposed to exist. A glitch like you shouldn’t have the right to try and…what are you tryin’ ta do? Save the AUs? Priceless.”**_

_“Oh, I’M a glitch? Ya seen yourself lately? The fabric of your being is falling apart, and what’s with the text all over you?” I spat._

_He let out a glitched growl and put out his hand, and little blue strings tore my SOUL out of my chest and squeezed agonizingly tight. I was lifted into the air. **“I tried to warn you about Ink, I really did,”** he spat out Ink’s name like an insult. **“But did you listen? Noo, you just HAVE to pursue this like your life actually depends on it!”**_

_“I don’t take orders,” I snarled down at him through the pain._

_He scowled and contracted his hand, making the strings tighten around my SOUL._

_“Hrk!” I arched my back and threw my head back, my fingers curling around nothing. I panted, and I felt drool going down my chin._

_He suddenly dropped me, and I fell back down with a THUNK. I glared up at him, and I was surprised to see him looking away with his face dusted with yellow. **“Look, I’m just tryin’ ta warn ya. Next time we meet, I won’t be so merciful. Don’t forget that.”**_

_I huffed before blacking out again._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a strange infatuation with Error. Don't ask me why. Oh! You'll find this interesting. I was on a Undertale Wikipedia thing researching Error so I'd get his personality right, and my Internet bugged out and said there was an error with the webpage. Isn't that weird!? ILLUMINATI CONFIRMED!!  
>  Anyway, any AU that pops in your head, let me know. I was thinking Horrortale, but I tried to keep it as general as possible so it could be anything. Until next time, my friends! Byeeeeee~


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